


Over the Hills and Far Away, At Summer Camp

by verosfuneral



Category: That 70’s show
Genre: 70’s, Angst, Camp Counselor AU, Crushes, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Longing, Love, Lovers To Enemies, M/M, Multi, Original Characters - Freeform, Romance, Summer Camp AU, Teens, That 70’s Show - Freeform, angst angst angst, coming to terms w sexuality, no centric- 3rd person omniscient, relatable, slow burns, that 70’s show au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23866051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verosfuneral/pseuds/verosfuneral
Summary: When Kitty signs the gang up as counselors at Camp Winnipeg, deep in the forests of Michigan, they’re sure that the summer of ‘77 will be the worst of them all. For some of them, they couldn’t be more wrong, but for the rest... this summer will be the ultimate test of their friendships, their will power, and themselves.
Relationships: Donna Pinciotti/Original Character(s), Eric Forman/Donna Pinciotti, Fez/Original Character(s), Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde, Steven Hyde/Original Character(s), michael kelso/original character
Comments: 31
Kudos: 18





	1. Welcome To Camp Winnipeg

"Man, this really blows."

Eric felt his eye twitch at Kelso's comment, glancing up at him in the rearview mirror of the Vista Cruiser. His spindly fingers gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white, but he bit his tongue. He had done his best to endure the past seven hours of unrelenting insults, his stomach in knots and ill-bred replies burning his throat. Kelso was right, and he knew it. They all were. He couldn't believe his mom had signed the six of them up without even suggesting it to him first, and he felt extremely guilty given that Kitty had single-handedly destroyed the summer before their senior year.

Donna, who sat to the left of him, squeezed his thigh lightly. He exhaled sharply at the touch, his heart lightening. Donna hadn't said a word the entire trip to Camp Winnipeg, but had given small gestures of support throughout the journey. Eric was extremely grateful that Donna, of all of them, wasn't berating him and didn't seem mad in the slightest.

Admittedly, she most likely didn't have an issue being anywhere as long as she wasn't at home. Bob and Midge's arguing had only gotten worse the past few weeks, and she had been spending an increasing amount of time at Eric's house. The pretty redhead leaned on Eric's shoulder, flipping Kelso off without turning around. Hyde scoffed from behind Jackie, who sat on Donna's other side. "Oh come on, even you have to admit that this is the worst possible place to spend the summer," the curly haired boy leaned forward, placing his hands on Jackie's seat to look up at the couple.

Donna glanced over at him, and Eric could almost feel her rolling her eyes. "I could think of a lot of worse ways." Her voice was so incredibly sad, so withdrawn, it tugged at the knot inside his stomach. Seeing Donna sad felt like a massive cosmic imbalance. Eric wasn't very good at comforting her, words had never been his strong point in any situation. That's why he stayed silent even then, kissing the top of Donna's head lightly.

"I couldn't!" Jackie piped up a few seconds later, her bell-like voice filling the car. "A dirty lake, a bunch of kids, shared bathrooms? It's just gross." The brunette huffed, crossing her arms and looking exasperatedly out of the window.

Fez, who sat right behind Eric and had fallen asleep several hours ago, woke up due to the commotion. He rifled through the paper bag that he had wrapped in his arms. Eric heard him smack what must have been Kelso's arm, his voice rough from sleep. "Where is my beef jerky you son of a bitch?" The dark haired boy said indignantly, smacking Kelso again. The latter let out a loud "Ugh!" Eric heard some shuffling, and Kelso pulled what must have been the empty jerky wrapper from the floorboard. "You ate them before you fell asleep, idiot," he scoffed, and everyone in the car laughed for the first time in what felt like days.

"It's not like we're actually going to camp, anyway," Donna said lightheartedly when the giggles died down, sitting up when she saw the "Camp Winnipeg - 2 Miles" sign next to the dirt road. "We're counselors. The brochure said there's only like, three adults there and they're all a thousand years old. We'll be able to do whatever we want." She sighed, rubbing her clammy hands on her jeans and nodding, forcing herself to believe her own words.

Donna knew that Eric already felt terrible about the situation. She didn't think he should be at fault; ALL of their parents had agreed to send them to the camp for the summer. The idea that her parents had actually communicated long enough to decide on it was a feat of its own. Bob and Midge had argued every night for a month and a half, and latter was now sleeping in the guest room. The redhead heaved a deep breath as Eric pulled up a small hill and into a large dirt lot.

Jackie rolled her eyes at Donna who flipped the short brunette off in return. The girls got out and stretched, and Donna couldn't help but smile as she gazed out across the champagne tinted view. The setting sun glistened off the expansive lake, casting a soft golden glow across the surrounding trees and campground. There were several docks installed around the water, what seemed to be atleast a dozen log cabins situated across an open, uneven meadow. It was a little hard to make out in the darkened sky, but Donna thought she could see a climbing wall on the other side of the lake.

She walked around the side of the car as the others got out, pulling Eric aside as he stood up. He let her lead him over to the edge of the lot, wrapping her arms around his small frame and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Look how pretty," she murmured, looking back down at the forested valley in contentment. "It's gonna be okay. I think it's a lot better than being stuck in Point Place for the seventeenth year in a row." She smiled up at him, and he returned the gesture without hesitation.

Eric felt overwhelmed by his love for Donna, as he did more often than he felt was normal. She was doing her best to make him feel better. Her kind words and the fresh air instilled new resolve within him. He turned and peppered some kisses across her face and neck, a series of giggles erupting from her. The pair exchanged a look, which was so surprisingly intimate Eric almost felt they shouldn’t be doing it in public. Donna flashed a smile, her cheeks reddening, and Eric felt his heart was going to completely burst out of his chest.

"Damn, Jackie, how many bags did you pack?" Kelso's voice rang out across the nearly empty lot. Eric rubbed his eyes, watching as the tall brown haired boy struggled with Jackie's numerous pink bags. She made a face at Kelso, setting up each of the bags he dropped.

"Michael, stop tossing my bags around like that! They're expensive, you can't just handle them like you do Pam Macy," Jackie's voice rose an octave, as it usually did when she spoke to him. "We're here for two months. What am I supposed to do, repeat outfits? I don't think so!" The small brunette turned away from Michael. Though they had been broken up for months now, she still got a small pain in the pit of her stomach every time she looked at him.

It was just a slightly different feeling than she got when she was around Steven, the same pain but with butterflies beating their wings against the pit in her stomach. He was so rarely nice to her, but when he was? It felt so... good. There was no other way to describe it. The curly haired boy stood a few feet away from her, his sunglasses pushed to the top of his head as he surveyed the land. Jackie walked towards him on tip toes, nudging him playfully.

He shoved her back gently, a small smile coming across his face. Jackie beamed back at him, coming up short for words. He raised an eyebrow at her, imploringly. She tried to think of what she came to talk to him about. Blank. His hazel eyes looked so green in this light. He issued a low "Okay?" and turned on his heel, walking back to the Cruiser without another word.

Jackie felt like smacking herself. The only person on this planet who could leave her starstruck, for whatever reason, was Steven Hyde. She didn't even understand why she liked him. He was greasy and rude... and cute as could be. Jackie smoothed her white button down, tossing her hair behind her shoulders and taking a deep breath. Straightening her posture, she turned, walking over to where the rest of the group had already gathered their own luggage.

She grabbed one of her suitcases and two of her bags, making pleading eyes at the passing Donna to help her with the final two. The tall redhead rolled her eyes, sliding her own duffel bag over her shoulders and snatching up Jackie's overstuffed luggage. Before she could say anything, a silvery voice sounded from behind her.

"Hey! Welcome to Camp Winnipeg!" Donna turned and was met with a tall, wiry figure just a few feet away from her. The boy's dark eyes were framed by thick lashes and heavy brows, crinkled by the lazy smile that sat on his oddly handsome face. The stranger tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans, the breeze blowing through the unbuttoned green shirt he wore.

Donna was taken aback by his sudden appearance, and evidently so was the rest of the gang. The shocked silence that followed as they all stood around awkwardly caused the new arrival to clear his throat uncomfortably, shaking his chin length black curls from his face. "Um, you guys are the new camp counselors right? I'm Wesley Dawson, the Senior counselor?" He stepped forward and reached a timid hand out, glancing down at it and back at the group.

Fez was the first step forward, shaking Wesley's hand enthusiastically. "Finally! I am Fez," he shifted his bags. "You are the only brown person I've seen since coming to this country," he laughed, looking out at the still quiet group and leaning into Wesley. He covered the wrong side of his face to hide his next words, something that made Donna giggle in the midst of her nervousness. "I was beginning to think there was some sort of conspiracy going on, if you know what I mean."

Wesley laughed in response, wrapping an arm around Fez and visibly relaxing. "Hey man, you're not wrong! I've got a couple stories for you," The boy winked, "We'll talk later, alright? " he clapped Fez on the shoulder and stepped away, extending both his arms in open greeting to the rest of the group. "Listen, the campers don't come until the morning, and the only other people up are the counselors," His smile was warm, and he pulled what was obviously a hand wrapped joint from his pocket. "Are you cool?"

Hyde and Kelso both stepped up to him immediately, and the former lifted his mop of hair to reveal two of his own wraps tucked behind his ears, nodding and laughing. "Hell yeah man, lead the way. Oh, uh, I'm Hyde, this here's Kelso."

He nodded towards the three others, who still hadn't spoken and stood in a cluster on the other side of the Vista Cruiser. "That's Forman, Donna, and the little squeaky one is Jackie. Alright, let's go." Wesley nodded, sidling over to the other trio and taking a bag from each of the girls.

The new arrival fell in beside Donna as they walked, who kept a shy silence during the small trek down to the campsite. She noticed Eric glaring at the wiry boy throughout the descent, and her stomach lurched as it usually did when Eric was about to make a fool out of himself.

When they arrived in the clearing, Wesley gave them a short series of directions. The girls set of cabins lay to the far right of the meadow, the boys to the left, and the showers in between. Across the archery clearing was the mess hall, arts and crafts cabin, and the staff housing, as well as the infirmary and storage shed.

He finished off by asking to escort the girls down to their cabin, since he had their heaviest bags. Just as Donna was about to accept his offer, Eric practically launched himself between them, shaking his head. Donna's brows furrowed, and she thought that she heard Jackie stifle a laugh.

Eric extended his arm towards Wesley, clearing his throat. "Actually, Dawson," His voice was full of venom. “I'll take their bags, seeing as Donna's my girlfriend and all." The dark haired stranger looked puzzled, but handed Eric the bags nonetheless. He glanced over at Donna before replying, "Okay, man. Meet us down at the dock after you guys settle in." Donna wanted to scream in embarrassment, feeling her face heat up almost instantly. She avoided Wesley's eyes and turned towards the girls cabin, definitely hearing Jackie's laughter in her ear that time.

She heard Eric's shuffling footsteps behind her, struggling with all the bags he had taken on, and her anger made her legs move with the speed of light, meeting the door a few seconds before the other two. "Go inside, Jackie, I'll be in there in a second," The redhead sat the bags down on the small patio and crossed her arms, and the look she gave him made Eric wish he could just die on the spot.

Jackie looked between the two of them, not even trying to hide the wide smile on her face. "Um, no! No way I'm missing this," she walked over and sat promptly on a stray folding chair, crossing her legs and raising her eyebrows. Donna rolled her eyes, walking towards Eric and pulling him to the side of the cabin.

"What the hell was all that, Eric? How many times do we have to talk about the whole macho man thing?" Her voice was low and shook with irritation. The boy looked back at her incredulously, gesturing broadly to the other end of the clearing where the rest of the group was crowding into the boys cabin. "What the hell was all THAT, Donna? He's had his eyes on you since he stepped foot in that parking lot!" He placed his hands on his hips and shook his head slowly, visibly losing confidence the longer Donna stared at him. Donna hadn't even spoken to Wesley, Eric realized. Not one word.

Donna genuinely couldn't believe him. Every time they seemed to be at a good place, the gangly boy threw a tantrum or said something dumb that just completely turned her off from him. She issued a deep breath, leaning back against the cabin's wooden wall.

"Eric, are you going to act like this for the next two months?" She didn't look at him, and he returned the favor. "We're all in this camp together. Wesley is going to be here all summer, just like us. Are you going to try mark your territory every time I have to talk to him?" Her least favorite trait of Eric's was his view on gender roles and masculinity. She tried to cut him some slack, seeing as his father was the hardass of Point Place, but fuck. She didn't need him to treat her like the new toy in the sandbox every time she interacted with a guy. Especially because his voice still cracked whenever he raised his voice.

Eric bit the inside of his cheek, as he did every time he and Donna argued. He knew he wasn't overreacting, not about the attention Wesley paid her atleast. He knew the way that Dawson kid had looked at Donna, because that was the way everyone looked at Donna. It seemed like she never really grasped how beautiful she was. Even now, in the weird dusk lighting, her green eyes stood out in a way that still made Eric uneasy in the best way. Or maybe he was just about to throw up.

The worst thing about Eric's outbursts were that he always knew when he was ruining something. It felt like he literally stepped outside of his body and watched himself destroy any given situation. Just a few minutes ago was no different, and he really didn't know how to defend himself against Donna's question.

His biggest fear was Donna leaving him. When Eric had thought of the bad parts of this place, he never factored in that they'd be around new people, in a completely new environment. Donna would thrive. She's always yearned to be out of Point Place. Eric silently cursed his mother once again, and when he finally opened his mouth to respond, Donna put up a hand to silence him. "Just leave me alone for tonight, I don't have the energy to argue with you." The resignation in her voice had returned, and Eric's already heavy stomach dropped to his feet. She walked back around the cabin without another word, leaving Eric to wallow in his own shame.

Donna grabbed the rest of the bags and lead Jackie inside, flipping on a rather dusty light switch and looking around the long room. Five metal bunk beds lined one wall, and two of them were already adorned with a few pictures and claimed by suitcases on the mattress. "I guess there's just four of us, then," Donna mumbled, still in a bad mood from her fight with Eric.

Jackie leaned in to look at some of the pictures, making a face and walking around to claim the last bunk. "These blankets are so... icky," The brunette murmured, pulling the throw down to reveal clean white sheets. "Atleast they had the courtesy to change the bedding. It's just ugly." She sat on the edge of the bed, sighing deeply. "This really sucks."

Setting her bag on top of the bunk next to Jackie's, Donna shrugged. "It's not gonna be that bad," she couldn't hide the small smile in her voice, and Jackie flung around to stare at the green eyed girl. "Of course you think that, that dirty guy couldn't stop looking at you," She crossed her arms, laying back on the bed. "So you get two guys who want you, and I get zero! In what universe does that happen?"

The redhead tossed a pillow at Jackie, lightening up just a little. "He's not dirty, you bitch," Donna laughed, tying her loose hair back at the base of her neck. "And he wasn't looking at me. God, I can't get over Eric acting like such a child!" She sat on the edge of Jackie's bed, covering her face with her hands. "I'm so embarrassed."

Jackie clutched the pillow to her chest, sitting up and leaning against the cabin wall. "You should be embarrassed, not necessarily because of what just happened but because you're dating Eric to begin with," she made a face at Donna, and both the girls fell into a small fit of laughter.

They spent a few minutes unpacking their stuff. Each bunk had a large chest at the foot of the bed, which easily fit all of Donna's belongings. Jackie had to pull the spare one down to her corner of the cabin, and even then she still had almost two full bags leftover of skincare items and makeup. She huffed when she finished, nodding towards the door. "Ready?"

Donna nodded, following the brunette out of the cabin and down the path to the lake. They met with Kelso and Fez a little ways down, who were accompanied by a buff blonde guy who spoke in a thick southern accent and an extremely curvacious brunette with curls down to her waist. "Hey! Welcome to Camp Winnipeg," the blonde drawled, tucking his arms behind his back and nodding to Jackie and Donna in turn. "I'm Ryan, and this is Cherry. She's one of your roommates!"

Jackie thought that Ryan seemed way too enthusiastic about the entire situation, but he was handsome and dressed nicely, so she didn't say anything about it. He reminded her of a Ken doll, his white shorts cuffed to hug his muscular thighs and a blue tank top that matched his eyes standing out in the dusk lighting. The girl, Cherry, smiled at them before opening her arms for a hug. She wore what seemed to be just a piece of fabric tied around her waist as a skirt, and a white crop top that Jackie thought looked rather trashy. She put a hand up to stop the hug, making a face at the girl.

Surprisingly, Cherry responded with indifference, shrugging her off and rolling her eyes. "Okay, weirdo," she murmured, turning to hug Donna instead. The redhead laughed softly at the stranger's comment, which made Jackie's cheeks heat up in embarrassment. She didn't like this Cherry girl one bit. The brunette crossed her arms and kept walking down the uneven path, aggravated and anxious to be around Steven again.

Donna stuck her hands in her pockets after letting go of Cherry and stared after the girl she loosely considered her best friend, sighing deeply. She thought that she should follow her, but opted instead to introduce herself. She couldn't spend all summer coddling Jackie. "Hey," she smiled, shaking Ryan's hand. "I'm Donna, and that's Jackie," she nodded down the path. "Don't take it personally, she'll warm up sooner or later." Kelso murmured something that sounded suspiciously like "Don't hold your breath."

Ryan nodded, and Cherry rolled her eyes playfully, tugging on Kelso's arm. "Come on, you guys! Everybody's waiting for us," the tall boy followed her down the path, making some sort of sneaky comment that made her giggle. Donna was left with Ryan and Fez, who seemed to be spending an unusual amount of time in observatory silence.

She started her own trek down the dirt path, tuning in and out of the boys conversation behind her. The new environment and new people were starting to get to her. She felt extremely out of place all of a sudden, estranged from Eric and Jackie and now sandwiched between her two friends who had already fallen in with someone new.

They came upon the docks right as the sun finally sank below the horizon. Donna could just see the outline of a handful of people seated in a circle on the lake's sandy shore, situated on a series of blankets and towels. She straightened as she walked up to them, seating herself on a spare blanket between Hyde and Wesley.

The latter smiled and passed his newly lit joint to her, something she accepted without hesitation. Donna tried her hardest to avoid Eric's gaze, which was almost impossible as he sat directly across from her, his light eyes reflecting the flame in a way that made Donna's skin crawl. It seemed like both Eric and Jackie were boring holes into her, though they both averted their eyes every time she dared to look back.

They passed a few joints around amidst a thick cloud of smoke and conversations, Donna so immersed in the banter between Hyde and Wesley that she didn't even hear the new arrival come upon them.

All eyes were on her immediately. She had to have been at least 5'10, and her thick curls added four inches to that. Her dark umber skin reflected the moonlight in an ethereal blue sheen. When she smiled, her full lips framed flawless white teeth, and Donna thought she saw the flash of a jewel on her canine. Her tank top read "Power To The People" in hand-painted orange letters. Donna didn't even think she was real at first, maybe a mirage or the product of strong weed.

"Valerie! Come sit down," Wesley motioned to the space between Donna and Hyde, who both looked extremely starstruck by the girls sudden arrival. Valerie waved to everybody and kissed Cherry's head on the way by, seating herself promptly in the last empty space. Hyde opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. The girl looked back at him expectantly, but leaned away when nothing ensued.

Wesley went around the circle introducing everybody, making a few jokes and easing some of the tension around the fire. Once they had all been acquainted, the dark haired boy stood up and stretched, motioning towards the still lake. "Since everybody here besides me, Cherry, and Val are new, you guys should know that it's traditional for the counselors to skinny dip on the first night in camp. You don't have to!" He added hastily, throwing his hands up in defense before anybody could respond.

He glanced down at Donna, offering a shy grin before sliding his shirt off his shoulders, beginning the descent down to the shore. Both Cherry and Valerie stood up and followed him down the sand, laughing and pushing each other around.

The entire gang, and Ryan of course, were left staring at one another from across the fire, silent as could be. Kelso spoke up first, not taking his eyes off the girls distant forms. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going," and without another word he tore his shirt off, practically sprinting after the trio. "Hey Cherry, wait up!" He called, falling over himself in his efforts to remove his pants.

Ryan followed suit, tugging Fez along (who didn't seem at all reluctant). Eric shook his head, crossing his arms, "I don't think so." Donna looked to Hyde, who had a familiar mischievous look on his face. He glanced at Jackie, who made an indignant "Ugh!" sound. "Surely you're not going to go skinny dipping with a bunch of strangers, Steven," the brunette groaned. Hyde sighed, standing up and unbuckling his pants. "Look Jackie, either come or don't," and he stalked off to the water, where everyone else was splashing about and the sand was dotted with discarded clothes.

This left Donna alone with Jackie and Eric, who were both shooting daggers at her from across the fire. "I'm gonna do it," she said definitively, averting her eyes from the duo and standing up. As she stepped towards the lake, Eric sprung up and blocked her path, followed promptly by Jackie.

"Donna, you're going to get naked in front of a bunch of strangers, not to mention The Three Stooges over there?" Eric cried, his eyebrows knit together. "You didn't even let me see you naked until we'd been together for a year!" Donna stepped back from him. These were the moments that Eric disgusted her. She tried to blame his outdated ideals on Red, but she knew without a doubt that Eric should be old enough to not think he was entitled to her body.

Jackie nodded vigorously to his words, saying something Donna couldn't hear through the blood rushing in her ears. "Eric, everyone's doing it. Apparently it's tradition. You're the one who doesn't want to," she crossed her arms tightly across her chest, sturdying her stance and glaring at Eric. He huffed, looking around angrily and avoiding Donna’s eyes. "You can't do it. I forbid it, and that's final!" His voice cracked on the last word, but Donna was too mad to find it amusing.

"You forbid it?" She questioned, her voice low and ice cold. Eric regretted what he said the moment he said it, but he it was far too late to take it back. The pale girl stepped close to him and shook her head, her arms still crossed off. Yet another barrier between them. He straightened his back, his hands firmly on his hips and a bated breath hanging in his lungs.

"I don't really give a damn what you forbid, Forman," Her voice remained steady, and she was eye to steely eye with Eric. "You don't own me. I'm not your property. And as of now, I'm not your girlfriend either. Now, let's have a wonderful fucking summer, okay?" She offered the fakest smile possible, shoving roughly past Eric and Jackie.

Eric's stomach felt like it had turned itself inside out, leaving his lungs empty and his head spinning. He had fucked up. He had fucked up so incredibly badly. Jackie looked out at the lake and then shook her head, making a face. "Great job, Eric! Now, it looks like we're the weirdos, and Steven's out there skinny dipping with God damn Aphrodite!" Eric couldn't even process what that meant.

He stormed up the hill and into the boys cabin, going into his chest and changing his clothes. After turning off the light he climbed into the top of his bunk- everybody got their own, except for Fez, who had to bunk with Ryan. Eric covered himself up to his eyeballs with his blanket. The urge to cry suddenly became overwhelming. The images playing in his mind were due to a way overactive imagination, but he knew that some of them were entirely plausible, and likely being realized just a few hundred feet away.

The hot tears fell across his cheeks before he could stop them, and although he willed himself to sleep as hard as possible, Eric's brain would not shut down long enough to let him drift off.

His thoughts circled on Donna, and the possibility of having to sit idly by for the rest of the summer and watch her fall for someone else was swirled across his brain like oil in water.

He loved her too much to let that happen, he decided. He wasn't going to go down without a fight.

...

Donna was neck deep in the dark water, stark naked and giggling uncontrollably. The eight teenagers were all playing a game of marco polo, but it had soon become evident that neither Kelso nor Hyde could swim very well. The boys flailed about on their turns, splashing around loudly and blindly.

She jumped when she felt a large hand close around her extended arm. Turning slightly, she was met with Wesley's warm brown eyes, smiling in relief. "Are you okay?" He asked softly, tossing his wet hair back, "I kind of heard what happened." He looked away shyly. "I'm also sorry if I caused any problems. Sometimes I can be... overly friendly, I guess." The water droplets on his thick eyelashes were iridescent in the pale moonlight.

Ignoring the slight shiver in her spine, Donna shook her head, focusing intensely on the light reflected on the still water. "It happens more than I'm prepared to admit," she sighed, wanting more than anything to submerge herself in the water and stay there, suspended, forever. From the corner of her eye, it looked like Wesley nodded, the laughter of the others fading to background as Donna let herself sink deeper into the dark lake.

Time passed. It could have been hours, or minutes, Donna didn't know or really care. There, drifting in the cool water, she felt true peace for the first time in months. No arguing filling her ears, no anger evident on her cheeks. All she could hear was the gentle pull of the undertow and the distant laughter of her friends. She tried not to allow herself to think about Eric. She would have a good summer, with or without him. Maybe it would be better to be apart for awhile, relearn each other as friends.

Donna really missed their friendship.

Sometimes she regretted getting with the lanky, mousy boy to begin with; even though she loved him dearly, being in a relationship with him had unlocked a whole other side of Eric that, to put it frankly, pissed Donna off. It didn't matter now. It would be a little awkward, she was sure, and she could only hope that Eric wouldn't throw another tantrum and ostracize her any further. Wesley was nice, funny, and yes... extremely handsome. He’s just friendly, she thought furiously to herself. He’s just friendly. He’s not paying any extra attention to you.

She emerged from the dark water, and her thoughts, rather abruptly. Hyde had yanked her off the small bit of sand she was grounding herself on, into the cold currents of the deep part of the lake. She screamed, but was submerged in the still water almost immediately. He let her up right after, swimming away as fast as he could and laughing hysterically.

The redhead coughed and shook her head, chasing after the boy. She met Valerie on her way, who she motioned to join her. "Do you want to help me drown him?" Donna laughed, and Valerie smiled, following her gracefully. They both managed to catch Hyde and hold him in the water, justice received. They all fell back in fits of laughter, and Donna watched Hyde move to smooth Val's hair from her face. It was oddly intimate for the usually standoffish boy. In her peripheral, Donna saw movement on the forest line. She recognized Jackie's small frame, moving rather fast and trying to stay out of sight. It looked like she was wiping her eyes.

Donna couldn't understand what would have made her so upset. Was it because she was by herself? Donna knew how that felt. She guessed that Jackie didn't- that is, she had never really been excluded from anything in her life. But that wasn't right! Jackie had chosen not to join them. She glanced back at Hyde and Valerie, who had somehow gotten almost to the middle of the lake by themselves, and turned back to seek out Jackie once more. She was almost to the cabin. Maybe... No. Donna shook the thought from her head before it could fully form. That was impossible.

What felt like a small wave hit her from the back, soaking her once more and taking her breath away. She rounded on Kelso and Welsey, who both looked as innocent and as guilty as possible. She wiped the water from her eyes and shook her head, flipping them both off and splashing them back.

The group went on like this until they were all exhausted. Cherry offered to go get the group towels, which they all gratefully accepted. Donna didn't think any of them were very keen on being naked in front of one another without the cover of the murky lake. Cherry didn't seem to mind, and apparently neither did Kelso, because he followed her without hesitation. Donna averted her eyes, her cheeks reddening.

She heard Wesley before she saw him, and she turned swiftly to meet him. He was against the moonlight now, a dark silhouette. His soft voice seemed disembodied when he spoke. "So, do you think you'll like it here?" Donna nodded softly, looking up at the clear sky. She wasn't lying, either. In the swirling darkness of the cold lake, Donna felt confident that she absolutely would fall for this beautiful place. Wesley's hand brushed hers, and she didn't recoil. A broad smile came over her face, her heart thumping loudly in her chest.

Yes, she thought. I'm absolutely going to like it here.

...

Jackie faced away from the cabin door. She was glad that she had chosen the final bunk, since there was no reason that any of the girls would walk by and see her splotchy, envy covered face. Desolation overtook her for the first time in her entire life as she lay, bundled up in blankets and white sheets. This was even worse than the time her mom had taken a seven month long "business trip" to Costa Rica. Donna was falling into the new crowd way better than Jackie herself was, which would never happen anywhere but here. Not to mention the fact that the only person Jackie could ever admit was prettier than her was situated right in this camp. Just three bunks down, actually.

The image of Steven's affections towards the new girl, Valerie, flashed in her mind. Jackie didn't know why she sat out there for so long. She actually felt kind of creepy, watching the group when they were so obviously unaware she was there, butshe couldn't tear her gaze away from Steven. She knew as soon as that Amazon had stepped onto the beach that the curly haired boy was enamored with her. She had left him speechless, something nobody had ever, ever done before.

Not even me, Jackie thought to herself forlornly.

Perhaps the worst part of it was she couldn't even blame him for being attracted to her. Jackie's superpower of sorts was always being able to pick out some kind of flaw in any single person. To make anybody feel terrible about themselves. It was a necessary trait as a cheerleader and pillar of the school's clique hierarchy. Except, with Valerie, she couldn't find one single issue. Not a blemish in sight. Valerie brought a feeling out of Jackie that she had never felt before. This wasn’t highschool, and the tall girl was not a rival cheerleader or unsuspecting classmate. Valerie was a woman in every way Jackie was not.

It was a mix of jealousy... anger? Longing. Jackie felt her eyes widen as she came to the realization that the word she was looking for was staring her right in the face. She was insecure. Insecure over the absolutely stunning girl who had captured Steven's attention within only seconds of meeting him. If Valerie was his type, then it was no wonder Jackie's attempts at flirting had gone unsuccessful. Valerie was all legs and thick curls and dark, beautiful skin. The brunette twirled a lock of her own hair, thinking of it as thin and limp for the first time ever.

Wading through her thoughts, Jackie hadn't even realized that the distant sounds of laughter were nearing the cabin, giggles that sounded like nails on a chalkboard in Jackie's ears. She wiped her face, which was hot with inner turmoil, and stayed as still as possible. The first footsteps inside she easily identified as Donna's, followed by two unfamiliar gaits she knew were Cherry and Valerie's.

"Is she asleep?" The voice was slightly above a whisper, but the melodic tone to it clued Jackie in to it being Valerie. Ugh, Jackie thought in disgust. Does she make her voice sound like that on purpose? She scrunched her eyes closed at the question, not eager to let the other girls know she was conscious. She sensed the redhead leaning over her bed, placing a gentle hand on Jackie's shoulder and tucking the blanket around her neck. "Yeah, she's asleep."

The tender gesture almost made Jackie soften towards Donna. Almost. The girls struck up chittery conversation, mostly over the obscure rules of the camp and the events of the past few hours. Jackie's stomach stayed in a massive knot while the trio got ready for bed. They were discussing Kelso and Cherry for awhile, which the brunette thought would make her convulse had it gone on any longer. Apparently, Cherry had already let Michael get to second base. Go figure.

Valerie spoke up. "So Donna, what's the deal with Hyde?" Jackie's breath hitched. She didn't want to hear this conversation, yet she wanted desperately to hear it at the same time. "You guys have been friends for awhile, right?" Shuffling. Donna's bed creaked behind Jackie.

"Yeah, we all grew up together," There was the undertone of humor in Donna's voice. "It seemed like you guys got pretty comfortable with each other." What did that mean? How much more had happened that Jackie hadn't seen? The girls laughed, softly, she supposed as to not wake her up. "He's very sweet, and intelligent," Valerie responded. "I haven't ever had luck with guys in those departments." More shuffling, more creaking.

Steven? Sweet and intelligent? Those were two things he absolutely was not. The girls were quiet for a few minutes as they all settled in, leaving Jackie alone with her thoughts. Sweet and intelligent. Jackie guessed that Hyde was smart, in his own strange way. He knew a lot about psychology and self awareness, and some really weird facts about both current and past events. He knew how to survive on almost nothing, which earned a small portion of Jackie's respect. She never got bored when he talked.

She had to think a little bit harder on sweet, but when she did, plenty of images flooded her mind. Steven comforting her after the Pam Macy incident. Teaching her to be zen. Showing her how to hit a pipe without destroying her lungs. The way he looked in his tux when he took her to prom, curls laid perfectly. No sunglasses in sight. The beautiful corsage he had gotten for her...

She wanted to cry when the realization hit her. Steven was sweet and intelligent. Valerie hadn't mentioned it, but Jackie knew that the word "handsome" was tacked on to the end of her observations. Of course she was interested in him. She'd be crazy not to be. Jackie suddenly wished, with such intense ferocity, that she had come to this conclusion sooner. She had missed her window. There was no way she could intervene now.

But... wasn't there? What was stopping her? Jackie was never one to back down from anything. She was a Burkhart, and when she wanted something, she got it. The small girl settled in to the stiff mattress, ready for a good nights sleep.

She wasn't going down without a fight.


	2. Morning Woods

Hyde jolted awake to the sound of a horn, blaring in his ears and jumpstarting his pulse. He launched out of bed immediately, looking around the long cabin and trying to make his brain understand the lack of threat from the the dark sillhouettes of the other occupants. Exhaling, he shook his hair from his eyes, hoping that no one had seen his reaction. 

Wesley's voice sounded from somewhere in the darkness, rough from sleep. "We get the showers from five to six," he paused to yawn. "The girls get them from six to seven." Groans resonated from every bunk in the cabin. The lamp next to Hyde's bunk was flipped on, resulting in even louder grunts and moans from the group. It sounded like a zoo exhibit.

Rounding on the culprit, Hyde was met with Ryan's wide blue eyes. The abnormally perky blonde smiled and sprung from his place on the bottom bunk, stretching and jogging slightly in place. "Rise and shine, boys! Let's get today started!" As the rest of the boys looked on in aggravation, the walking Ken doll grabbed a couple of towels from his chest at the foot of the bed and promptly exited the cabin. 

"Is it just me, or is that guy a little... fruity?" Kelso's question was hesitant, and he said the words with the backwards confidence he usually had when he thought he was approaching something correctly. Hyde hid a bemused expression, not really in the mood to converse with him, especially about someone they barely knew. Sitting on the edge of his bed, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, trying to give himself some time to wake up. 

Slowly, the cabin became a hub of activity. The boys milled around like zombies, half asleep and not used to being up at this time in the slightest. Hyde caught Eric's eyes a few times, but they didn't speak. The air was thick with hostility. It didn't seem to Hyde like Eric had any real reason to be mad. Wesley couldn't have known Donna was with him, and it wasn't like anybody could blame the guy for being attracted to the tall redhead. 

Fez came out of the single toilet "bathroom" with a frown on his face, sighing dramatically and rifling loudly through his bags. "How is it fair that the girls get to sleep for an extra hour?" The question was almost unperceivable in Fez' sleepy voice. Wesley, on the other side of Fez' bunk, was pulling clothes from his chest with quiet determination. "It's not too bad, man. We get guaranteed hot water." Something slammed loudly on Eric's side of the room, but Hyde didn't turn to look. Wesley paused, but continued a moment later without looking up. "And you don't HAVE to get up. You can shower at night, too." More groans. 

"Well why didn't you tell us THAT part?" Kelso asked incredulously, his shirt half pulled off and his arms stuck in an absurd position. "I could be getting some serious beauty rest right now!" Hyde shook his head, grabbing a change of clothes out of the large duffel he had stored on the top bunk. "Kelso, you moron, we swam in the LAKE all night. Naked. You're gonna get a serious infection if you don't shower," he scrunched his nose up, "and that's just gross, man." 

The boy sighed in resignation. "I guess you're right. I can't have an infection if I'm gonna bag CHERRY! WHOO!" Without another word, he was out the door. Hyde shook his head, chuckling to himself. Cherry was a pretty girl, he would admit that, but she wasn't who put his thoughts to a halt as he grabbed a towel from his bag.

A flashy smile filled his mind, framed by full lips and a single, deep dimple. VALERIE. Her name echoed in his head. He had never met anyone like her in the rinky dink town of Point Place. 

He thought of the night before, after the group had dried off and began warming themselves by the fading flames of the burning log. They chatted for a couple hours, but the groups coversation turned to background noise soon after Valerie situated herself beside him. 

The duo talked in depth about a multitude of subjects. Valerie was extremely passionate about the very same things Hyde was, things that the rest of his friends couldn't be bothered to care about. 

"Have you ever seen The Exorcist?" The girl had asked softly, resting her head on her shoulder. Water ran in small streams from her thick curls, and she tossed them back in irritation every few minutes. Hyde couldn't remember what she asked him. He stared at her in fascination, reluctant to look away in case he forgot a single aspect of her face. There were plenty of pretty women out there, and Hyde had definitely seen his fair share of them, but Valerie was a different kind of beautiful. Stunning. The only other person whose face captivated him this way was... 

He shook his head. THAT wasn't a possibility worth considering. Glimpses of smooth dark hair and green eyes flashed in his mind, but he pushed the images from his head as quickly as they'd come. Forcing himself to focus on the present, Hyde slipped on his prison-grade shower sandals, grabbed his small bag of toiletries and walked out the door, breathing in the cool morning air. The rest of the cabin's occupants, save for Eric, found their way to the lengthy shower house in the dim dawn light, not speaking a single word to eachother.

There were six stalls lined up against one wall, and on the opposite sat an equal amount of sinks and grimy mirrors. Ryan was already in the first stall, humming what sounded like an ABBA song to himself over the drone of the shower head. The short shower curtains might have been clear, once. Now, they were coated with two decades of mold and mildew. Hyde didn't really care. It reminded him of home.

Stationing himself in the last stall, he hung his bag on the nearby hook and extracted a bar of soap and shampoo from it. As he showered, he found his thoughts centering on Valerie again. She was so COOL. Classic literature and feminist manifestos were her go to reading materials. She liked fruity candy but wasn't a fan of chocolate. Growing up in Flint, a small town in Michigan, she helped raise her younger siblings while their Dad worked long hours on construction jobs. Her mom was an alcoholic. Yellow was her favorite color. An anarchist. She preferred sunrises to sunsets. Best of all? She loved Led Zeppelin. 

Hyde couldn't remember focusing on anything for this long, let alone a girl. Granted, he didn't have as much experience in that department as he let on. Really, he just had never been able to connect with other people on a higher level. Especially girls. He knew that the main reason he even had friends was because he met them as kids, before they caught on to what a lowlife he was. 

Now, Hyde figured that they all felt a sort of loyalty to him due mainly to the decade of friendship between them. Fez, of course, just thought he was cool. Hyde smiled to himself when he thought of the naive foreign kid, who was probably his favorite person in the world. 

He didn't realize how long he had been tuned out until the formerly warm water began to run cold, the other boys now filling the rest of the stalls. They all reacted strongly to the change of temperature, jumping and howling, but Hyde was used to it. WEAK, he though to himself. THEY'LL NEVER SURVIVE THE APOCALYPSE. 

Shutting off the now freezing stream of water issuing from the rusty showerhead, Hyde took his time to dry off in the privacy of the stall. Within a few minutes his teeth were brushed, his deodorant applied, his sunglasses on, and his extremely lame camp issued t-shirt sitting loosely on his shoulders. It was forest green, with gaudy yellow writing that read "CAMP WINNIPEG - Where children become young adults!" across the front. The worst slogan ever, pretty much. 

Fez came to the sink beside the curly haired boy, nudging him with a bony elbow and pointing at their reflection in the mirror, "You look like a major dork." Hyde stepped back, glancing down at Fez' attire. He was wearing the same t-shirt, but with the colors inverted. The sickening yellow made Fez look ill, but he radiated a confidence that Hyde didn't have the heart to tread on. 

Hyde made his way out of the shower cabin, noting that the sky was much brighter than when he entered the windowless building. He stood there motionless for a moment, filling his lungs with the clear morning air. Wesley came out a few minutes later, fumbling with the buckle to his overalls. The dark haired boy smiled when he met Hyde's eyes, leaving the buckle undone. "Wanna blow one before breakfast?" he grinned mischievously, wriggling his eyebrows. Hyde laughed, motioning towards the treeline, "Of course man, how about right over there?" 

Wesley shook his head, nodding up past the girls cabin, into the thicker part of the forest, "Gator's up already. He'll look for any reason to get you in trouble. He's the cook," he added, when he noticed the bemused expression on Hyde's face. "Old guy. World War II vet, you know? Real hardass. He thinks anybody that's too young to get the senior discount is too young for anything really." The slim boy began walking up the dirt path, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking back at Hyde, who started following him mindlessly.

"So his name is Gator?" Wesley shook his head at Hyde's question, glancing up at the girls newly lit cabin. "His name is Gary Buchanan. He's worked here since the camp opened in the fifties," he glanced over his shoulder, way down to the other end of the valley where the mess hall sat undisturbed. "He especially thinks lowly of the boys, though. His daughter Kate is the camp nurse. I think she's the reason he believes every guy is some villain trying to steal women's virtue." Hyde laughed, so spaced off in imagining this Gator character that he didn't notice the two tall figures coming upon them. 

His eyes fell on Valerie first. She met his gaze right away, flashing her brilliant smile and shaking her frizzy curls from her face. "Good morning," she said softly, dusting something from his shoulder. "You look nice in this color, it really brings out your sunglasses." Hyde laughed looked down at her sleeping attire- purple satin shorts and a tattered Jimi Hendrix t-shirt. Smiling, he nodded in appreciation, his mind coming up blank the longer he looked over her features. "Thanks," he managed, his voice quiet. "I should have known you were in to Hendrix."

He suddenly tuned in to the conversation going on beside them. Donna had been Valerie's company. She and Wesley bantered timidly, and as tall as the redhead was she had to tilt her head to look up at the wiry boy. Even in the dim lighting, Hyde could tell that Donna's cheeks were bright red. Hyde leaned in to Valerie, lowering his voice to reach only her ears, "Get a load of these two, huh." She giggled, placing her hand on Hyde's back absentmindedly. "They do look nice together," she whispered in response. 

Eric's face flashed in Hyde's mind. He didn't want to agree, but the couple in front of him DID look good together. Donna and Eric looked more like cousins or siblings than they did boyfriend and girlfriend. Also, he had never seen Donna wound so tight around anyone before. She was usually so laid back, all jokes and fun conversations, but with Wesley she was all shy smiles and quiet laughs. Nodding in acknowledgement, he turned back to face Valerie, the rising sun setting a soft golden glow across her dark brown skin.

Finding himself speechless once more, he looked around the valley for something to talk about. Anything to keep her there a little while longer. Thankfully, she spoke up before he did. "Where are you guys off to so early in the morning?" She adjusted her small backpack on her shoulders. Wesley glanced at him and smiled, cocking an eyebrow. Hyde laughed to himself, nodding up towards the woods. "Just taking a look around the forest before the kiddos get in." He felt Donna staring at him, and when he turned to look at her he saw a small smile on her lips. "Sounds fun! See you guys at breakfast," Valerie responded, and Hyde thought he saw her wink at him before the girls went on their way.

Wesley watched them for a moment, sighing. "Man, you'll have to tell me about Donna," the dark haired boy murmured, tapping Hyde's chest playfully with the back of his hand. Before he could respond, a bell-like voice sounded in their ears. 

"What about Donna?"

The boys jumped, turning on a dime to find the owner of the voice. They looked down to find Jackie, sleepy eyed and bedheaded. Her pink pajama pants were much too long for her legs, and they fell like curtains over her fluffy bunny slippers. Hyde smiled, stepping back once he realized how close she had gotten to him. "Well, Miss Burkhart, thank you for gracing us with your presence this morning," he said airily, sliding his hands into his pockets. Wesley chuckled, and Jackie shot daggers at the both of them. She crossed her arms over her Charlie's Angels t-shirt, raising an eyebrow at Hyde expectantly. "And where are you going, Steven? I didn't know it was possible for you to wake up before noon." Her voice was haughty, but Hyde thought he heard a slight shake in her tone. This puzzled him, but he carried on.

"We're taking a hike, fresh air you know? You should try it," he bounced on the balls of his feet, becoming anxious for some reason. "It'd give your lungs a nice break from all the hairspray you inhale." The girls green eyes narrowed, and she looked over at Wesley, quiet for a few moments. "You guys are going to smoke." It wasn't a question, just a statement. Jackie liked when people knew she had caught on to them. Hyde figured it made her feel like Nancy Drew.

Hyde shrugged, not replying to her. She responded with the same indifference. They stood for a few moments in silence before the small brunette sighed, looking up at Hyde for a moment longer before shoving past the boys and stomping to the showers. Wesley looked at Hyde, puzzled. "Okay, I wanna know what that was about first," the tall boy laughed, picking up the pace as they neared the treeline. Shaking his head, Hyde removed his hands from his pockets. They were oddly clammy. "That's just Jackie, man. She's a strange little person." 

Wesley laughed, glancing sideways at Hyde as they entered the woods. "That was more than her being a strange little person, my guy," he raised a brow, pulling the joint from behind his ear and a lighter from his pocket. Hyde knew he probably shouldn't ask, but he did anyway. "What does that mean?"

The crunching of forest undergrowth was all that was heard for the next few moments as Wesley tried to light the joint. "I don't know, man. It seemed like flirting to me," the dark haired boy hit the white wrap, passing it to Hyde in a cloud of smoke. Taken aback, Hyde didn't respond. Flirting? He had never FLIRTED with Jackie. Well, that was a half lie. They had kissed before. They talked too much shit to each other to ever actually flirt though... right? She hadn't felt anything for him after the kiss. It should have ended there. Hyde hit the joint slowly, lost in thought. They came up on a very small clearing, littered with mossy fallen trees and wildflowers Hyde had never seen.

"You've got it wrong, man," Hyde said finally, taking a seat on one of the logs. "Jackie's the bane of my existence. And I'm pretty sure the feeling's mutual." The clearing was incredibly green, the spring blooms finally giving way to summer time freshness. The Michigan air was crisp, and even though they were nearing June there was a thin layer of dew on every organism in the forest.

Wesley sat beside him, shaking his head. "All I'm saying is, she went out of her way to talk to you this morning. If you were the bane of MY existence, I would avoid you like the plague." They this way in silence for a few moments before the dark haired boy spoke again. "So how about Valerie, then? She doesn't seem to get under your skin as bad." He smirked, looking over to watch Hyde's reaction. 

Valerie. Hearing her name made Hyde's stomach lurch. He shook his head, resting his elbows on the knees of his faded jeans. "How long have you known her?" Wesley took the joint from Hyde's extended fingers, relaxing on the log and stretching his long legs out in front of him. "It's her second year here as a counselor, but she came here once as a camper about five years ago. That's when I first met her." Hyde nodded, trying to think of how to phrase his next question. "Have you ever...?" He trailed off, raising his eyebrow over his sunglasses. Wesley laughed, shaking his head. "Me and Valerie? No way, man," he propped himself up with his arms behind him. "Don't get me wrong, she's beautiful. Obviously. We've just always gotten along great as friends. Why try for more?" 

Hyde nodded thoughtfully. He guessed he understood where Wesley was coming from, but he could think of a LOT of reasons to try for more with Valerie. "You've been coming here for five years? I don't even know how I'm gonna make it through the next two months." That was the truth. Even with Valerie here, and all his friends, Hyde would much rather be in Point Place than here. He wasn't too jazzed about being around both adults and children simultaneously for the entire summer, sharing a living space with five other guys and having to hide in the woods anytime he wanted to smoke a J. 

"You'll live. I have a feeling you're going to miss it once you leave. Everyone does," the dark haired boy responded, chuckling at Hyde's disdain. "So... What's the deal with Eric and Donna?" His voice was small, and Hyde grinned at his timidity. "Oh fuck, I'm so tired of hearing those names together," he rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses. "They have a lot of issues. Well, Forman has a lot of issues, and Donna puts up with them. I couldn't tell you why." From the corner of his eyes, he could see Wesley nodding absentmindedly, kicking at a large rock between his feet. "Do you think it's worth trying to get at her? I mean, do you think I'd have a chance?" 

A few seconds passed as Hyde thought of an honest response. "Look, man, Forman's my best friend. Technically, I'm supposed to tell you to back off and fight for his honor or something. However, I am an agent of chaos, so I'm telling you to go for it. Donna's one of the hottest chicks I've ever met, and also one of the coolest. She's digging you too, I'm sure," Hyde took his last hit, passing the nearly snuffed out joint back to Wesley. The latter nodded somberly. 

They sat in silence and watched the sky grow brighter and bluer with the rising sun. Hyde thought very highly of the kid next to him already. Wesley matched his energy, something that was extremely rare in Hyde's experience. 

"Do you think Eric is gonna try to beat me up?"

The question made Hyde snort, the image of Eric trying to fight the slim, muscular kid beside him extremely comical. Wesley chuckled as well, still kicking at his rock.

Hyde glanced beside him, assessing Wesley for a short moment. "Are you native or something, man?" Hyde asked, and the dark haired boy laughed, nodding. "Ojibwe. I'd ask what you are but, I mean," he gestured to Hyde's entirety, "the jokes write themselves." 

Hyde laughed, flipping him off. "To answer your question, I really don't know if Forman will try to fight you. He's been known to do some really nutty things. And for being really twitchy all the time." Neither of them laughed at that. Sometimes, the way Eric acted was funny, but other times... it might have worried Hyde, if he thought about it too much.

"Just give it to him easy, okay?" He added, clapping Wesley on the shoulder. The dark haired boy nodded, offering an appeasing smile before standing in the new morning sunshine. "Come on, man, let's go get some breakfast." 

...

Fez had felt extremely strange since yesterday. Ryan had taken special interest in him, and while he was grateful for the new friendship, as well as just being accepted among his peers, Fez couldn't choke down the strange feeling he got around the buff blonde. 

He ate his breakfast in silence, Ryan sitting across the table, humming to himself. Picking at the sausage and biscuits sitting on his tray, Fez let himself look up a few more times than he should have. Brown eyes met blue, and broke apart in the same breath. The Camp Winnipeg t-shirt hugged Ryan's muscular arms and chest, and Fez was extremely jealous. He figured the blonde got all types of girls, wherever he was from. 

"The biscuits are more bearable if you put honey on them." The clear voice pulled Fez from his thoughts, startling him. A small jar of the substance was slid gently across the table, and the dark haired boy smiled in thanks. "Is this your personal honey?" He asked, lifting the bottle and examining it. 

The blonde smiled and nodded, looking down at his own tray of lonely biscuits. "I'm a vegetarian. I've gotta have something to add some flavor to my food." Fez liked Ryan's smile. His teeth were slightly crooked, and one in the front had a large chip in it. Still, Fez stumbled on his words. He mumbled a small thanks and smothered the biscuits in honey, immediately understanding the appeal. 

They carried on in silence again. Well, Fez did. Ryan continued to hum to himself. It wasn't bothersome, he could carry a tune fairly well. They had been the first in the mess hall, and not even Gator the cook was around when they arrived. The food was served on the line, however, so they filled their trays and sat down. Now, the other counselors were starting to file in. 

Jackie walked into the large room by herself, to Fez' surprise. The brunette made a face at the breakfast options, turning to look around the empty tables. When her gaze fell on Fez, her expression shifted to one of pleading. He motioned her over to the empty seats beside him, offering a smile. She walked rather fast- within a few moments the girl was settled next to him, smoothing her ponytail. 

"Goodmorning, Jackie!" Ryan beamed from across the table, resting his arms on the rough wooden table. "How was your first night? Mine was just amazing," he rested his head in his hand, his damp blonde hair falling over his forehead in waves. Jackie smiled back, looking pleased with the initiation of conversation. "It... wasn't too bad. My bed was so uncomfortable though! They could atleast get mattresses that aren't stuffed with concrete!"

Ryan laughed, and so did Fez, hesitantly. Jackie smiled in her pageant queen way, all charm, and Fez' brow furrowed. He knew that smile, that mask the pretty brunette wore. She had donned it constantly in the first few weeks after Kelso and Pam Macy made out behind the gym, and again after catching him with Laurie. The fear of looking foolish, he guessed, outweighed any of her other feelings. Pride was Jackie's fatal flaw in his opinion. But who was he? Jackie had only been vulnerable with him a handful of times. His perpetual crush on her came in waves, but the tides had shifted and pulled away from the shore in the past few days. 

He cared for Jackie infinitely, as he did for all his friends, but sometimes she was mean and downright cruel. Not in the way Hyde was, because most of the things he did to others for entertainment caused physical instead of emotional pain, and even he knew when not to cross a line. The girl beside him did not. 

Fez tuned back in to Ryan and Jackie's conversation. Well, he tuned in to Ryan. The blonde's biceps strained against the small shirt's sleeves, and Fez was slightly envious. He noticed Jackie eyeing the boy across from them as well, coyly looking up at him from beneath her thick lashes. Fez rolled his eyes. Maybe envious wasn't exactly what he was feeling...

As the two continued conversing, Fez began to wish that him and Ryan were alone again. He felt someone sit down on the bench to his other side, and looked over to find Eric's wide green eyes just a few inches away. The lanky boy offered a smile, glancing down at their trays. "Looks like the biscuits aren't Fez approved," he noted, digging in to his own syrup-soaked bread, 

Smiling, Fez shook his head, shoving the dry biscuits around with his fork. "They are not very good, but I'm so hungry," he sighed, and Eric laughed softly. They carried on this way as the rest of the table filled up. Cherry sat beside Ryan, Kelso to her other side. To Jackie's other side sat Donna, who had seemingly sought her out in the large, rather empty mess hall. 

As Fez forced himself through the chalky biscuits, and as the room grew brighter with the rising sun Wesley and Hyde finally came in. The boys showed strong comradery, and Hyde had a broad smile evident beneath his tinted glasses. 

Eric tensed beside him, but didn't say anything. The energy of the large room shifted, and Fez shook his head in discomfort. There was always some kind of tension in the group, and he was in tune to it no matter the issue. He had always been able to pick up on emotions. Emotions transcend language. There had never been a barrier for him there.

The table buzzed with chatter, and a few minutes later Valerie joined them. She was very pretty, Fez thought. Her thick curls were pulled back at the nape of her neck, slicked smoothly down and away from her face. She had a very soft bone structure, and high cheekbones, her regal features reminding Fez fondly of the ancient statues in his home country. 

Wesley had sat next to Donna, and Hyde across from him. Valerie carried only what seemed to be a small cup of fruit, grabbing a spoon from the line and sitting next to Hyde, striking up quiet conversation with him. 

Surprisingly, he sensed Jackie become just as tense as Eric with the girls entrance. Maybe she was not used to being the least desired? Surely she didn't think that affected her worth... or maybe she did. Jackie was known for being vain, but surely she wouldn't want to tear Valerie down simply for being pretty. 

He didn't think anything more of it, until he heard Hyde's laugh carry down the table. In his peripheral, Jackie squeezed her juice carton so hard it caved in from the pressure. Fez' brow furrowed. Was she jealous of Valerie for... having Hyde's affections? Almost laughing at the thought, he turned to examine Jackie. Though her eyes were unclear, he noticed she was leaning towards the couple's conversation, face turning redder by the moment. 

Then he realized that Kelso and Cherry sat in the same vicinity, and they were wound around eachother like snakes. Of course, he thought to himself, that's what was making her upset. Understandable, Kelso had been her first and her only everything. It's a wonder the venomous girl hadn't crawled across the table and attacked. 

Kelso couldn't care less what anybody at the table thought, Cherry was the coolest girl he had met in a while. He could even listen when she talked for more than a few seconds without completely tuning out, which was extremely rare. He twirled one of her long, loose curls around his finger, the girls hand pressed into the small of his back. "You wanna go take a walk before the kiddos get here?" the short girl asked softly, raising a thick brow over her brown eyes. Kelso nodded eagerly. He knew what "take a walk" meant. 

They stood up, and Kelso grabbed both their trays. Cherry smiled in thanks, and Kelso could swear he heard everyone at the table sigh in relief. When he turned around, he caught Hyde's eye, and the curly haired boy smiled slyly, winking from behind his glasses. 

Grinning, Kelso lead Cherry out of the mess hall and into the bright sunlight, squeezing her hand as they began walking. They struck up small conversation, and the tall boy was surprised to find he wasn't in a hurry to quit talking to her. "So is Cherry like a nickname?" He asked, as they made their way down the shoreline. The girl nodded, glancing up at him. "It sounds less elderly than Cheryl," she laughed, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. 

"Cheryl what?"

"Cheryl Iona," she retorted.

"Iona? Is that like, an Asian name or something?" 

She laughed. "Hawaiian. Nice try, though."

Kelso shook his head in apology, "Hawaiian, cool. That's in California, right? Have you ever been there?" Cherry busted out into giggles, stopping and taking a seat on the dry sand. "Hawaii is a bunch of islands, silly. I grew up there," Kelso seated himself beside her, resting a hand on her thigh below her khaki shorts. "My mom's from Michigan, so we moved here after my dad died." Silence followed for a few minutes. 

"I'm sorry. That really sucks. I had a dog that died once," he said offhandedly, leaning back on his hands. Cherry looked back at him, bemused. "NOT THAT A DOG IS LIKE YOUR DAD!" he added loudly, and the girl laughed once more. "Enough about me. How about you? Is Kelso a nickname?" 

He shook his head. "Last name. My middle name is Christopher," he trailed off, staring at a bird who pecked at something on the dock. "Oh, and my first name is Michael. Everybody just calls me Kelso, though." Cherry nodded, placing her hand over the boys on her thigh. 

Within a few seconds of silence, the two were wrapped around eachother again. Kelso laid back in the sand, the girls thick thighs straddling him and her hands on either side of his face, exchanging surprisingly passionate kisses underneath the warming sun. The tall boy gripped her soft sides, her full figure stirring new, primal feelings in him. He shifted their weight, leaning over her and pressing his lips down the part of her neck her t-shirt left exposed. 

Suddenly, what felt like a baseball bat was smacked over his spine, and someone screeched above him. Yelping in pain, Kelso stood up immediately, looking around wildy for the cause of the shooting pain in his back. He rounded on a stocky, gray haired man, wielding a stick that could easily qualify as a tree branch depending on who you asked. The man stood lopsidedly; he had a Popeye-esque squint and apparently never washed his clothes, because his once white shirt was now a muddy beige and his patched jeans appeared to have been dipped in motor oil several times.

"You get away from her, you filthy boy!" The old man yowled, brandishing his stick over his head. Kelso scoffed, shocked and humored that he had the nerve to call anyone else filthy. Cherry stepped between the men, her arms extended and her face frantic. "Mr. Buchanan! Stop it, he wasn't doing anything wrong!" The wrinkled face squinted at the short brunette, scowling when he focused on her features.

"I didn't know it was you, Cheryl," he said her name with barely hidden venom, his voice wobbly with age. "Should have known, though. This is a favorite spot of yours." the old man turned his head and spit, turning back to glare at the couple. Cherry had ducked her head, her long curls falling like curtains and hiding her face from Kelso. 

A moment passed. Finally, the grey haired man placed his hands on his hips, hobbling off back down to the camp site. "You oughta wrap it up soon, Cheryl, the kids will be here in a few minutes." Cherry didn't say anything back. 

When the man was but a dot in the distance, Kelso stepped closer to her, pulling her hair from her face and tucking it behind her back. "Cherry? What was that about?" He tried to keep his voice low, but it was still raised an octave or two from the adrenaline of the prior situation and the pain in his back. The girl didn't look up at him, her warm toned skin a deep scarlet beneath her cheeks. 

"Gator just thinks very lowly of girls who control their own bodies."

Kelso didn't quite know what that meant. Before he could ask any questions, Cherry had circled him, lifting his yellow camp t-shirt to view what Kelso guessed was the mark on his back. "Oh no, he split some of the skin," she mumbled, running her fingertip over the wound. Kelso yelped, arching away from her. "We've gotta go get you some ointment. Kate's probably up by now." There was still timidity in her voice, and Kelso did the polite thing and didn't look at her. She lead him back down the shoreline in silence. 

They reached the small nurses cabin within a few minutes, and Cherry knocked on the heavy wooden door loudly. After some shuffling the door swung open; a young blonde stood in the doorway, her voluminous hair falling to her shoulders and her white shirt only half buttoned. She smiled when she saw Cherry, glancing over to Kelso and maintaining her friendly demeanor. "Oh! And who is this young man?" 

Was this place just a magnet for hot women? Kate was extremely pretty, by his standards atleast. He liked blue eyes. He thought she might have been 22 or 23, but he was never all that good at guessing anything. "This is Michael Kelso, he's one of the new counselors this year," Cherry said, taking his hand and pulling him in to the small cabin. "Your dad caught us kissing and hit him with that damn stick."

Kate frowned, motioning Kelso to one of two gurneys in the middle of the room. "I'm so sorry, you guys. I never could figure out why he acts that way. Can you point me to where he hit you, Michael?" The blonde hastily buttoned the rest of her shirt, tucking it into her white capris before washing her hands off in the small sink. Kelso silently turned and lifted his shirt. He wished he could see how bad it was, but all he knew was that it stung like hell and he was absolutely NOT prepared for the burn of antiseptic a few seconds later. Somehow, he managed not to scream, but his whole body went rigid. 

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry," Kate said profusely, pressing some type of cloth to the ripped skin. It seemed like apologies took up half of her vocabulary. "It doesn't last as long when you can't tense up beforehand." Kelso felt Cherry press her hand to his cheek, and he opened his scrunched eyes to see her standing just inches from him, her thick brows furrowed. "Your dad is strong as hell for an old guy," he squeaked, closing his eyes again as the cloth got stuck to his raw skin. 

Both the women laughed, and Cherry sprung up and sat beside him on the thin mattress. "I don't know why he acts that way," the nurse placed what felt like a bandage over Kelso's back, her fingers moving deftly over his skin. "He's been like that ever since I can remember. Growing up was hell. His heart is in the right place, sometimes. He's just old fashioned. Okay, all done!" She slid Kelso's shirt back over his back, ruffling his hair and rewashing her hands in the sink. 

Cherry smiled, hopping up and taking Kelso's hand. "Ready? The kids should be arriving here in a minute," she glanced up at the clock over the door, bouncing on her heels. He nodded, standing up and stretching. Kate met them at the door, tucking her short blonde hair behind her ears. She held up a blue sucker, a small smile on her face. "Ah hell yeah!" Kelso exclaimed, gladly taking the candy. "Thank you, Nurse Kate!" 

The blonde patted the couple on their shoulders as they passed, nodding. "Consider it an extension of my apology. And just call me Kate!" With a final smile, she closed the door behind Kelso and Cherry as they exited the small cabin. "I'd hate to have grown up with him as my dad," Kelso sighed. He noticed the rest of the counselors making their way up to the dirt lot where Eric's Cruiser sat, and he looked over at Cherry to see if she had seen them as well. The curly haired girl didn't speak as they ascended the hill. Was she still bothered by the way Gator treated her?

Kelso, frankly, didn't understand any of it, so he stayed quiet as well. When they reached the flat lot, he went to stand beside Eric, who was stood on the very edge of the group and looking rather sheepish. 

"Counselors! I'm so happy to see you all!" The ten of them started at the sound of a wobbly, feminine voice. A very short, stout woman was making her way the short distance to them, her yellow camp t-shirt tucked in to a forest green skirt, her long white socks and ancient brown shoes peaking from underneath. She might have been blonde once, though now her hair was showing the silver that came with age, curled under her pointed chin and blowing across her face in the weak morning wind. Horn-rimmed glasses sat across her nose, just above what Kelso thought had to be the biggest smile anyone had ever worn. "Welcome to Camp Winnipeg! I'm Jean, Jean Wentz, the camps owner! Now let's see, I know these three," she hobbled around the group, kissing Wesley, Cherry, and Val on their cheeks before turning to the others. "But the rest of us haven't been acquainted."

Ryan stepped towards the woman, taking her hands and pressing kisses on either side of her face. "Hello Mrs. Wentz! Aren't you just a fresh breeze in May," the woman looked entirely too pleased with the boy's enthusiasm. "I'm Ryan Porter, and I'm so excited for this summer!" Kelso could almost hear everyone groan. The only person who didn't seem annoyed was Fez, who didn't lift his eyes from the blonde man the entire time.

Fez thought Ryan was a good example for the rest of them. He didn't understand why he seemed to irk everybody's nerves; the blonde just wasn't murky and cynical like the others. Fez liked that. 

They went around and introduced themselves to the elderly woman, who kissed and greeted each of them as old friends. It became evident after a few conversations that something was different, though. She squinted her eyes to see, no matter how close one got to her, and if you pointed something out that was a bit farther away she would just shrug and move past the topic. 

After they were all acquainted, Jean gave them a small rundown about the camp. Wesley and Val had already covered most of what she said, but Fez found the old woman's voice to have a mystic quality he liked to hear. "The most important rule, and the only one I can get a little mean about, is that the boys never ever enter the girls cabin, or vice versa. Both Gary and I enforce this rule strongly. That goes for the campers too!" Everyone nodded, but Fez got the idea that she couldn't see the movements. "You guys are my eyes and ears out here, so I put a lot of faith in you all to follow the rules. If you do, we'll have a great summer! But if you don't it can get very, very bad." She smiled sweetly. 

Without missing a beat, the old woman tapped the slim watch on her left wrist. "The kids will be pulling into here any minute. Wesley, my dear, do you have the sign in sheets?" The dark haired boy nodded, jogging over to the only other car in the lot, a shiny black Trans Am, and grabbed a clipboard from the hood of the car. "Wes, is that yours?" Donna asked when he returned, and he nodded, a smile forming on his face. "Yes ma'am. Fixed it up myself." 

The redhead looked over at the beautiful car, and Hyde, Kelso, and Valerie all joined in in admiring it. "Not entirely yourself, thank you very much," Valerie piped up, shoving the boy playfully. He laughed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and conceding. "Okay, Val did the kickass paint job and replaced the engine, but aside from that? All me." The girl nodded happily, her afro bobbing around her head. Hyde looked over at her in awe, but he didn't have a chance to speak before Wesley spoke up again.

"Alright you guys, there's twelve girls and thirteen boys. These kids are anywhere from thirteen to fifteen years old, and they have a range of personalities. My advice is to just be yourself, they sense fear and they WILL make fun of you." He laughed, handing sheets out to the members of the group. Hyde didn't like kids at the best of times, but hearing them described like piranhas made him uneasy. Wes continued on his speech, sounding very presidential. 

"Ladies, the girls are your responsibility, for the most part. You'll be making sure they shower, eat, go to bed, and get up on time. Fellas, same for us with the boys, but since there's more of us we're gonna have to help the girls out. These kids are under our supervision. If they get hurt or lost, it falls on us." He clapped his hands together, and Hyde saw Jean nod along to his words.

"So! These are the sign in sheets with the names of every camper who signed up. Every one of you has to meet and greet each kid, and check them off on your page. Then we'll take them down to the mess hall for an early lunch and let the kids decide their first activity for the day. Any questions?" The tall boy asked, looking around the silent group with an eyebrow raised. 

Nobody spoke up, and before either Wes or Jean could continue speaking a massive green bus thundered up the dirt road. It whipped into the lot and sprung open its door, and not a second later kids began spilling out of it like floodwater. Hyde took a deep breath, tucking his thumbs into his belt loop. This was going to be a long summer.


	3. In Deep Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello all! firstly, i want to apologize for my hiatus. i underestimated how many people were interested in this fic, and frankly writing this chapter was like pulling teeth. to apologize this chapter is 8k words, and i hope y'all can forgive me for taking so long and not end up doing me like the author in misery :)

"Okay everybody, pair up!" Valerie's voice rang out across the grass-spare meadow between the campground and the shore, which was lined with a dozen or so canoes. The baby-faced teens milled around awkwardly, some finding a partner rather quickly and others taking what seemed like hours. After a few minutes there stood 9 pairs of children and the odd one out- a short, scrawny boy with buzzed curly hair and wire framed glasses on his long face. He walked around in circles, and it seemed to Eric that he had a slight limp. Wesley walked briskly over to him, slinging an arm around the boy's shoulders and bringing him over to the group of counselors.

"Everybody, this is our very own Joseph Jones. Unfortunately, we have an odd number of campers this year, so I'll need one of you to partner up with him for the canoe race. Preferably someone closer to his weight class." Eric didn't have to turn around to know that everybody's eyes were on him. Wesley raised an eyebrow, and Eric wanted to wipe the smug look right off the taller boys face. "Alright Forman, you heard the man! Featherweight only, you're up," Hyde's voice sounded in his ear and Eric groaned, looking around at the group. 

"Oh, come on! Jackie is way smaller than me, it should be her!" The brunette huffed from a few feet away, shaking her head vehemently. "It took me forever to wash that smelly water out of my hair, I am not going anywhere near that lake anytime soon!" She looked offended at the mere thought, and Eric figured he should just drop it and get in the damn canoe. Wesley smiled and clapped him on the shoulder, causing the lanky boy to lose his balance and stumble slightly. He heard giggles from the girls on the other side of the group, Donna's laugh reverberating in his ears and bringing the now familiar heat back to his face. 

The kid, Joseph, didn't speak as they walked down to the last spare canoe. He seemed just as miserable as Eric felt, and he couldn't help but notice that the other kids snickered as the duo passed. Joseph didn’t spare a glance any other direction but directly in front of him, and up close Eric could tell that he did have a limp, his left leg dragging just a little behind with every step. 

“Alright, canoes to the shore!” Valerie bellowed, a whistle dangling from her neck. The campers all rushed to slide their boats to the sand, none having so much difficulty as Eric and Joseph. It was obvious that they had about as much upper body strength between them as most of the other kids had in their little fingers. By the time they made it to the edge of the sand, every camper was glaring at them with thinly veiled disdain. Valerie didn’t say anything, though her dark eyes raked over Eric in a way that almost looked like pity before Wesley joined her at the shoreline. “Okay campers! This is a simple canoe race, first boat to make it across the lake and back gets a very special reward.” The girls in the canoe beside Eric made an extremely lewd comment about Wes, bile rising in his throat as they giggled between themselves. Obviously, the tall boy was considered attractive.  
Wesley didn’t look at Eric the whole time he spoke, which infuriated him. Like he wasn’t even worth the gaze. “Second and third will win prizes as well. Now, ready? Go!” Valerie blew her whistle and the campers were off, all surprisingly adept to canoeing. Eric and Joseph, however, were not having it as easy, stuck on the sand an unable to figure out how to balance themselves. 

“What are you waiting for? Go!” Valerie’s brisk yell activated a Red-instilled fear response in Eric, who pushed the canoe into the water from sheer adrenaline.  
Neither he nor Joseph could quite figure out how to get in sync with the other, at first spinning the boat in circles before veering off down to the eastern side of the lake. When they were finally on course, Eric found himself growing frustrated with their slow progress. Most of the campers had nearly reached the other shore.  
“You’ve got to put more strength into it!” He hissed between his teeth, his own scrawny arms straining as he fought against the lake. For the first time, Joseph spoke, and Eric was more than surprised at the obvious hostility in his tone. 

“Well I don’t see you putting any strength into it!” It wasn’t just hostility, it was nervousness. Eric could understand that, but there was the slight hint of something else. It was almost like… fear, though he couldn’t figure out what the kid could be so fearful about. Eric grimaced at his words, desperation rising within him. “I’m trying! This is all the strength I have!” 

His voice reverberated across the waves, bouncing back off tree trunks and ringing in his ears. He heard the counselors bust out in a fit of laughter, Donna’s giggle rising above the others and turning the blood in his veins to ice. 

Arrogantly, Eric decided to throw all his weight into the next stroke of his paddle, but in doing so he also threw his whole weight to one side of the boat, immediately submerging both he and Joseph in the chilly darkness of the lake. The shock made Eric sputter, water in his nose and eyes and burning his throat as he fought to rise to the surface. Just when he thought he’d pass out he rose above the water, belligerent from the lack of air and horribly humiliated. He found the canoe, flipped over, and grabbed on to it, searching only too late for his partner.

But Joseph was nowhere to be seen.

The group of counselors was standing on the shore, horrified, as a figure swam towards him with shark-like speed. Eric couldn’t even really process what was happening, and only when Wesley was right on him with an expression that could only be conveyed as pure fear did he grasp the severity of the situation. As long as Eric had been underwater, fighting for air, Joseph had now been under for twice that, with not so much as a bubble to signify where he was.  
Without speaking, Wesley took a breath and dove, staying beneath the murky waves for a small eternity. Eric knew he should dive, too, and search for the shy kid who had only just been in the boat with him, but he didn’t. He froze.

A few yards away, Wesley ascended, and relief spread through Eric’s body like morphine when he realized that Joseph, albeit unconscious, was in tow. Briefly, he was impressed by the senior counselor’s prowess. He had made it to the middle of the lake within seconds. Following him at a distance, Eric attempted to backstroke and pull the canoe to the shore, struggling just as he had when he was actually in the god forsaken thing. Worry for Joseph permeated him, mingling with his guilt to form a cocktail of complete misery.  
By the time he reached the shore, shaky and out of breath, Wesley had Joseph on his back, pushing water from his lungs and breathing into his mouth. Eric was ashamed when jealousy fluttered through him. Of course, with everything else, Wesley was a literal life saver. Go figure.  
“Go get Kate!” He half-yelled, not to anyone in particular. Cherry and Ryan both took off, in what Eric guessed would be the direction of the nurse’s cabin. The rest of the group gathered around in fear, watching Wesley’s nearly frantic ministrations with looks of dismay. The campers had started to dot the shoreline once more. Nobody knew who had won. Nobody really cared.

Joseph looked even smaller as he lay on the sand, Wesley’s hands covering his entire chest as he did CPR. Eric risked a look at Donna, whose face was almost as red as her hair from pure anxiety. Why did he always fuck things up so badly?!

After what felt like forever, and just as Cherry and Ryan returned with a slim blonde who Eric figured was Nurse Kate, Joseph sputtered, water leaking from his mouth and nose as he coughed himself awake. A sigh of relief rippled through all of them, while the campers who gathered around the scene in timid curiosity scowled for some reason.  
“Joey!” Wesley exclaimed, his face still tense. “Are you okay? Can you breathe?”

It was obvious to Eric that Wes knew the kid pretty well, and his worry was not the vague protectiveness one felt towards kids in general. This was personal fear in his eyes.  
Heaving, Joey turned promptly to the side and threw up. It was mostly lake water, though Eric could see the remnants of breakfast biscuits in the liquid. It was not an appealing sight, and many of their group stepped away from sheer disgust. Finally the kid spoke, his voice rough with exhaustion. “Y-yeah, I can breathe. I don’t feel v-very good.” He was shaking. Wes nodded, pulling the curly haired boy to his feet with easy strength. Jealousy flared in his stomach once more. “I know, but you’re okay now. Kate’s gonna take you to the infirmary to rest, okay? You’re excused from today’s activities. I’ll come visit you later.” He forced his dark eyes away from Joseph, glossing straight over Eric until he found Ryan. “Will you help Kate get him to the cabin?” The blonde nodded immediately, his huge muscles bulging as he took on the small boy’s weight.  
As they hobbled away, Joseph’s pant leg slid up just enough for Eric to see what looked like a gleam of plastic beneath the fabric, the leg that dragged behind when he walked. Was that…

“Val,” Wesley’s voice was tight, relief not enough to calm him. “I need you to take the campers out to the clearing. Have them play a game of tag or something until we can figure out who won the race. Take the rest of the counselors, too. I’ve got to go tell Jean what happened.”

Everybody stayed silent as he spoke, apparently captivated by his easy leadership. Even the campers, who had began making snide jokes and rough housing with each other, quieted to listen. Valerie nodded sternly, gathering the kids with her most brisk commands and marching them to the northern part of the woods. The counselors followed her as well, and Eric didn’t miss the forlorn look Donna threw over her shoulder as she departed. It wasn’t directed at him, of course, but at the wiry boy before him.

With a sigh, Eric began ambling after them, shame and regret creeping up his neck in the form of a deep crimson blush. The summer had just started yesterday, and he had already nearly killed a kid. Just as he passed the sand and reached the grass however, a surprisingly angry voice yanked him back.

“Can I ask what the actual fuck you were thinking?”

Eric froze, the confrontation that he was not prepared for in full effect. He turned around, green eyes wide, and found Wesley’s usually relaxed features contorted in rage. “What? I wasn’t thinking anything! It was an accident!”

The dark haired boy walked right up to him, shaking his head. “No, no it wasn’t. I watched you purposely throw all your weight to one side of that canoe, you meant to do that! Joey’s whole leg is a prosthetic, he can’t swim!”

The sight of the plastic beneath the kids pants, as well as him being the only kid wearing pants in general, made a lot more sense now, and the horror of just how bad the situation could have been had Wesley not reacted so fast spread through Eric like wildfire.

“I didn’t know he couldn’t swim! Why the hell would you send him onto the lake if he can’t swim?”

“Because I thought you could be trusted not to act like a jackass and capsize your boat, let alone sit there looking crazy while he was drowning a few feet away from you!”

Wesley was inches from him now, his brown eyes blazing and wiry muscles flexing beneath his shirt. Eric was intimidated. Nobody besides Red had ever gotten on him like this. 

The intimidation turned to anger, however, when he registered the word “jackass”. Real rich coming from Sir Lancelot here. Donna’s face flashed in his mind, and Eric began positively seething.

“Me? You’re the one who’s been making a show of how cool you think you are since we got here! Well let me tell you something, buddy, you’re not! I didn’t know the kid couldn’t swim, that was your job as senior counselor to make sure he was safe! You didn’t even tell me that the kid had a prosthetic!”

Almost resigned, Wesley’s eyebrows furrowed. He didn’t address Eric’s obvious disdain for him when he spoke again. “It was on the spreadsheets Jean gave you, this morning, when you were supposed to meet and greet every camper.” Oh, shit. Eric most definitely had not done that. Shame replaced his righteous rage as Wesley continued. “Joey deserves to do everything every other kid at this camp does, that’s what he’s here for. I’m not going to justify excluding him because you tried to show off and flipped your boat.”  
“Anybody could have flipped their boat!”

“But ‘anybody’ didn’t. You, the counselor, did. So now you get to come with me and explain to Mrs. Wentz how one of her favorite campers nearly died because you wanted to impress Donna.”

The way he said her name, with such familiar fondness, ignited a fuse in Eric’s stomach that made him feel as though his eyes would pop out of his head. “You don’t know a thing about me and Donna, Dawson, so don’t ever speak on her again.” He stepped up to the boy, who towered a few inches above him, obviously not worried by the thinly veiled threat. Quite the opposite, in fact. It seemed to humor him.

“I knew this was coming,” he scoffed, aggravatingly dismissive. “I know enough about Donna to know that she deserves better, Forman.” Venom dripped from every syllable. “And you’re acting out because you know it too, right? And you’re worried that… what? I’m the ‘better’ in question? You haven’t liked me from the moment we met, for no reason at all besides Donna looking at me.” He laughed, an empty sound, and Eric found himself intimidated once more. He knew this argument had been coming too, but he had no idea it would be so soon. This kid aggravated Eric’s very existence like no one else had. He had known Donna for not even a full 24 hours yet seemed to think he had her all figured out.  
“Donna’s mine, nobody’s better for her than me.” Even as he said the words, he knew they were weak. Donna absolutely deserved better than him, but Wesley was absolutely not the ‘better’ in question. Not if Eric had anything to say about it. Wes shook his head, looking down at Eric with an expression that he could only classify as superiority. “She doesn’t belong to you. She belongs to herself. If you knew her as well as you think you do, those words would have never left your mouth.”

A stunned silence followed; Eric dumbfounded at just how right Wesley was. Before he could think of anything to say, the tall boy sighed and nodded across the clearing. “Look man, all that matters to me right now is making sure Joey is okay and letting Mrs. Wentz know what happened. I could honestly care less how you feel, because you’re the only one in camp with a problem. Whenever you wanna settle that, you let me know.” He turned to walk away, but froze for a moment, brows knitted and eyes clouded. “And if you ever put one of my kids in danger again, I’ll make sure you hurt just as bad as they do.”

Goosebumps rose on his arms. Eric knew he was meant to follow Wesley, but he found himself rooted in place, processing the boys words. It aggravated him that he wasn’t seen as a threat, that even at his most angry he hadn’t managed to get under Wesley’s skin or break his laid-back façade. The problem was entirely Eric’s, and that bothered him more than anything.

Begrudgingly, he followed suit across the clearing, his stomach writhing with bottled emotions and fear for the consequences Mrs. Wentz might wreak upon him for his negligence. Why was it always him?

-

“Got some room for me?”

The words yanked Jackie from her incessant staring at Valerie (did she have to touch Hyde’s arm every time he made her laugh?), startling her and bringing her attention to the owner of the voice; Donna, an apologetic smile on her face.

The campers and counselors alike were situated around a massive bonfire, much bigger than the small flames they had stoked the night before. It was to be their first campfire sing along, and Jackie was so thoroughly disgusted with every aspect of the place she wasn’t surprised that their last activity of the night was something so annoying. Jackie nodded, looking away from Donna and sliding down the log she was situated on. The tall redhead took a seat, rubbing her hands on the denim of her shorts in a nervous tick Jackie had noticed a long time ago. 

She resumed her glaring at the couple across the fire from her, the flames guarding them giving Jackie a pleasing image of what Valerie would look like in hell. “Is everything okay?” Donna murmured, her voice barely discernible above the crackling of burning wood and the dozen conversations going on around them.  
“What? Yeah, of course!” Jackie responded too quickly, and Donna’s brows knit together. “Are you sure? You’ve barely talked all day.”

“Of course I’m sure, Donna, or I wouldn’t say I was!” The words came out a little harsher than she meant, and though she wished she could rephrase the damage was done. “Okay,” the redhead responded, heaving a deep sigh. “Sorry.”

Jackie longed to ask if the other girl was okay, but didn’t see how she could after being so snippy. After Eric had nearly let the little curly haired boy- what was his name? Johnny?- drown, neither he nor Wesley joined the group in the clearing for another several hours. From what she gathered, Eric had been reprimanded for being so useless (no surprise there) and was given breakfast duty with that horrible old man, Gator, for the next week. Now he sat to the edge of the group, sulking just as Jackie was. It was obvious that the mornings events had bruised his ego, especially when Wesley was the one who saved the kid. Jackie figured that, paired with Wes’ obvious interest in Donna, was enough to send the twitchy boy into a spiral. She thought she might talk to him later about it, figure out what exactly had happened when the two boys were left by the lake together. It must have been bad, by the way Eric’s green eyes were bloodshot with stress.

After everyone was seated Wesley joined them, a finely polished guitar in his hands. Ugh. Jackie felt Eric’s disdain for the boy; he was too perfect for comfort. Though he was far from her type, she could absolutely see the appeal in him. Dark hair and soft features, a calming personality, and an admittedly nice body. Proportionate. He was a natural leader, which no one could deny, a strong swimmer, and now he played guitar? Jackie thought of him in contrast to Eric, and saw how the lanky boy paled in comparison to the former. Just the same as she herself paled in comparison to Valerie.

The thought brought bile to her throat. Jackie had never paled in comparison to anyone, and the fact that it was happening in this god forsaken camp that Jackie hadn’t even wanted to attend was like a knife in her side. Insecure. She struggled with the word. It didn’t even feel right in her mouth.

But she knew that’s what it was, insecurity. It might not have been so bad if Hyde hadn’t taken such an interest to the girl, or if he had ever even showed a fraction of the attention he paid Valerie to Jackie herself. Even when they kissed, he hadn’t gazed at her the way he was looking at the tall girl in that moment. All it took was one day! Further soured by this, Jackie crossed her arms, focusing her attention on the fire itself. Maybe if she thought hard enough, it would catch on the tiny shorts Valerie wore and set her ablaze.  
“Donna, would you like to come sit with me? I’m not singing, no worries there, just the guitar.” Wesley flashed a brilliant smile, and Donna’s heart rose to her throat. She glanced over at Jackie, who merely scowled into the fire. “Yeah, of course,” the redhead replied, accepting the tall boy’s hand to help her up. 

She passed Cherry and Kelso on her way, twirled around each other like they had been for the entire past 24 hours. Kids stared at them with morbid curiosity, and Donna couldn’t help but laugh as she settled onto a blanket next to Fez. 

“Your new boyfriend is quite nice,” he murmured into her ear, immediately forcing a blush to the top of her cheeks. “Fez!” She whispered urgently, casting a fearful glance over to Eric’s sulking form. “He’s not my boyfriend! He’s just- we’re just friends, okay?”

Fez sighed, shaking his head. “You people always make things harder on yourselves.”

Before Donna could really think about what he meant, Wesley hushed all the conversations, taking on his presidential tone with quiet ease. “Alright, who knows Hotel California?”  
A few hands were raised, including Ryan’s, and Wesley pointed him and the rest of the campers out before settling down with his guitar beside Donna, a small thrill filling her when he let his leg rest against hers. 

Through the flames she locked eyes with Eric, the thrill turning to dread in her stomach the longer they stared at one another. He nodded towards the treeline, and Donna’s resolve from the night before weakened- she wanted to check on him, no matter how much of a jerk he had acted. When he got up to leave, however, she found herself wondering what the point would be. She and Eric had been doing well, up to a point, but it took the past day not being wrapped around his finger to make Donna realize just how unhappy he truly made her sometimes. More than anything, she wanted her best friend back, not the underdeveloped machismo the lanky boy was turning into. 

Nonetheless, she whispered to Wesley that she was going to the bathroom and stalked off into the shadows, not daring to see if his gaze followed her. 

They met behind the shower cabin, Eric’s green eyes glossed over in the moonlight. “Donna,” he whispered, his voice holding a new earnestness to it that pulled at the corners of her lips. “I miss you.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but no sound came out. Did she miss him?

Since the canoeing incident, she hadn’t thought about him nearly as much as she should have. Wesley, ashamedly, had consumed her thoughts since the night before. She liked that he wasn’t clingy, he gave her space, which was good since the slightest attention from him rendered her nearly useless. He was extremely handsome, but in a subtle way that sort of crept up on you until your lungs were filled to the point of bursting with the smell of his earthy cologne. 

Eric had never needed raw appeal to capture her heart, but the change of pace had began making Donna wonder if it was just his 15 year long proximity to her that made her feel so strongly for him. They wanted such different things, and though she had known Wesley for such a short time (and she definitely didn’t want to jump into anything with him, either) he had reminded her that there were more possibilities out there for her than being a housewife in Point Place.

“I-“ She began again, tucking her hair behind her ears nervously. Better to change the subject than lie, she figured. “Are you okay? I heard Mrs. Wentz kind of dug into you.”  
“Oh yeah? I guess that son of a bitch Dawson will tell you whatever you wanna hear, huh?”

Great. This was how he was going to act. 

“Hey! Don’t talk about him like that, if it wasn’t for him you’d be doing a lot more than breakfast duty!” Her eyes narrowed, and regret built in Eric’s stomach. He didn’t like how strongly she defended him, not in the slightest. “Oh, get real, Donna! He probably set that whole thing up just to make himself look better, and you’re playing right into his hands like some kind of- “

“Some kind of what, Eric?”

The only emotion he could feel now was pure rage. Just how well had Wesley gotten to know Donna, his Donna, for both to speak about each other with such familiarity?  
“Like some kind of dumbass!”

The look on Donna’s face morphed into one of hurt, the anger in Eric’s stomach giving way to something stronger- guilt. Before he could apologize, she shook her head, blinking hot tears from her eyes. “Every time I try with you, all you do is shove me away.” Her voice might as well have been laced with hooks, the way it cut into his skin. “A kid could have died today, and you’re pissed because Wes saved him? That doesn’t sound like something a dumbass would say?” Hurt turned to anger, and Eric recoiled from the sharpness in her words. “No more little rendezvous’, no more staring at me like some lost dog. Just leave me alone, Eric, maybe you’ll do better with no one left to disappoint.”

Without so much as another word, Donna turned on her heel and stalked off back to the bonfire, feeling ridiculous for even trying to hear him out. When she rejoined Wesley he was thrumming the strings on his guitar in quick succession, the melody instantly calming the rushing blood in her veins.

He kept his promise of not singing, which Donna was thankful for, but she was immensely surprised when Ryan and Valerie lead the group in a rather patchy rendition of “Que Sera?” She closed her eyes, listening to the tremulous voices of the kids around her. Ryan actually had a beautiful voice, his deep southern accent adding a swing to the words that highlighted Valerie’s own heightened tone, mingling together to form something absolutely harmonic. 

She wasn’t the only one who was captivated, either. Fez’ eyes were glued to Ryan, she noticed, his dark features tracing over the blonde’s in an almost forlorn way. Donna didn’t give herself time to question it when she moved on to Jackie. Hatred burned in every pore of her skin as she stared at Valerie, and the redhead was only slightly confused. Jackie was used to being the prettiest in the room (or campfire, if you wanted a change of venue) and the fact that Val only seemed to get more appealing the longer they knew her must have been tearing the brunette to pieces. She wished Jackie wasn’t such a… bitch. There was really no other way to describe her. Between her and Eric, Donna didn’t see how she could fully enjoy her summer away from her parents. They were nearly as bad as Bob and Midge.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn’t notice when Wesley leaned into her ever so slightly, his warmth spreading through her like a cup of coffee on a winter morning.  
“You okay?” he whispered to her, not easing up on the chords though his attention was diverted. She went to nod, but instead shook her head, truthful. His dark brows furrowed as he looked over her worried features. “I’ll come get you after we get the kids to bed, give you a break from… everything, if you want. Just me and you.”

Though she didn’t know what the “break” would entail, Donna found herself nodding fervently, relief spreading across her face and through her limbs with a rush. Any chance to be with Wesley was welcomed by her.

Eric didn’t return to the campfire that night, and Donna barely noticed. His presence had been like a huge shadow, threatening to swallow her in his darkness. She relished in the brightness of those around her, both her friends and the campers alight with joy. Except Jackie, of course.

The brunette had been waiting all day for Hyde and Valerie to separate so she could get his attention. She hadn’t spoken to him since that morning on her way to shower, not willing to risk what little self esteem she had left on vying against the dark-skinned girl for his attention. By the time the fire was nearly snuffed out and it was time to send the campers through the showers or off to bed, Jackie was at her wits end. How much could there be to talk about? She had certainly never seen Hyde speak so frequently in the years she had known him. 

Only when Valerie took it upon herself to usher some of the female campers into the showers, sending Donna and Cherry off with the rest of them to their cabin, did Jackie find the opportunity. Taking a moment to find Hyde ducked behind the cabin, the brunette straightened and plastered a smile on her face, sashaying over to him in the most sultry way she could manage. “Hey,” she said from just behind his shoulder, making him jump. “Ah! Fuck, Jackie, you can’t sneak up on me like that.”

He had a joint and lighter in his hand, and Jackie made a face at him. “Steven! You’re gonna get in trouble!” She reached for the items and he yanked back, his brows furrowing over his sunglasses. “I should have known Miss Pep Squad would try and narc me out.” Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms tightly, trying to regain her cool façade she approached him with. “Whatever, I just didn’t want you to get in trouble. But it’s cool.” She rounded on the heel of her sandal, traipsing back towards the girl’s cabin with her heart sounding loudly in her chest. She should have known he wasn’t going to call her back, so why did her hopes rise regardless?

When she nearly reached the crest of a small hill, his voice surged through her nervous system. “Wait, Jackie!” A deep, resounding sigh. “Come back.”

Though she wanted to sprint back to him immediately, she instead stood in place and tilted her head slightly, as if pondering his request. When she heard him shifting uncomfortably, she decided to go back and meet him, surprised when he greeted her with a smile. “Sorry, man, I guess I’m just on edge from being in this hobbit land hell hole.”  
She laughed, shaking her head. “It doesn’t suck as bad as I thought it would. At least I’m here, right?”

The words would have felt right in Point Place, but the lack of confidence Jackie had since she arrived at Camp Winnipeg showed through the faltering light of them. Hyde felt it, too, an exasperated groan sounding through his teeth that froze her in place, not thawed even by the heat rising to her cheeks. 

“Maybe the place will humble you a little, if nothing else.”

When she opened her mouth to speak again, not entirely sure what she even intended to say, she was interrupted by a passing Wesley. “Hey man,” he called to Hyde, waving him over to where he stood. “I’m about to go check in on Joey, wanna come?”

Hyde scrutinized her for a moment before answering, his hazel eyes shining even through the dark tint of his glasses. “Gladly,” he called back, not tearing his gaze away from her until the last possible moment. He stalked off, and Wesley made a quip that earned him a swift punch to the arm. Her lower lip jutted out in a pout as she watched them amble towards the nurse’s cabin, exchanging a series of what she could only guess to be crude jokes as they walked. Hyde spared her not a single glance, though Wes looked over his shoulder at her a handful of times. What the hell was that about?

Diminished thoroughly for the second night in a row, Jackie decided it best to join the rest of the girls in the shower, praying the hot water would rinse away her unrequited longing and the steam would carry her back to the pedestal on which she belonged.

…

Donna sat in her bunk, still fully clothed and waiting anxiously for any sign of Wesley outside. She had no idea what the night would entail, but the excitement of being alone with the tall boy overrode her immense nervousness. Watching Jackie’s sleep-slowed breathing, Donna found herself drifting off as well. Surely he hadn’t forgotten…  
Just when she had lost hope for the night’s outing, there was a small tap on the glass window between her and Valerie’s beds, jolting her awake. Peering out, she was met with Wesley’s smiling face, nodding towards the door. Donna’s feet moved swiftly, anticipation tingling through her veins. 

“Sorry I’m late,” Wes offered when he met her at the doorway, holding a hand out to help her over a particularly wet looking patch of mud. “I had to make sure Gator was in his nightly whiskey coma before we could leave.”

She froze. “Leave?”

His brows furrowed and he nodded, worry coming across his features. “Yeah? I thought we could go for a ride in the Trans Am, get away from here for a little bit. I should have asked you- I just assumed- I’m sorry.” He seemed deflated, and Donna shook her head, smiling in delight. “Are you sure we’re not gonna get in trouble if we leave?”

“I’d never do anything to get you in trouble, but if you don’t want to risk it I understand completely, I’ll walk you back-“ There was no hint of attitude in his voice, his eyes pools of sincerity.

“No, of course I wanna ride in the Trans Am! I just thought we’d be doing something closer to the rulebook, Senior Counselor Dawson.” Wesley hadn’t released her hand during the entire exchange, his long fingers wrapping around her own with a gentle grip. He chuckled at her words, pulling her towards the parking lot once more. “Perks to hanging out with me, I guess. You should do it more often.” He threw her a heart stopping wink as they continued the darkened path up to the parking lot, fingers interlaced. 

The small point of contact was thrilling for Donna, who had never even done this much with anyone aside from Eric. And that weird time Hyde had kissed her. She noted the way Wesley's loose curls shone in the faltering moonlight, helping her up the steep hill though he didn’t really need to. It was nice. Eric had long ago given up trying to be chivalrous. Donna thought it was simply because they knew each other for so long, that he was comfortable in not having to do certain things most other girls would demand. Wesley did it with no hesitation, opening the passenger side door for her with that now-familiar goofy smile on his face. She slid in, confused when he leaned on the car to peer in at her. “Are you sure you’re okay with leaving? We can just sit here, or go for a walk or something.” He was evidently still worried about her earlier caution. “Of course I’m sure, or I’d have told you to shove it when you came to get me.”

He flipped her off, shutting her into the dark space and walking around to his own side, chuckling to himself. The car smelled like leather and pine, which she attributed to the little car freshener dangling from the mirror. Beside it was a very small yellow pouch attached to a string, beaded intricately. It was a beautiful little thing, and Donna reached out to touch the tiny beads, entranced by it. 

“Please don’t touch that,” Wesley murmured, making Donna jump as she hadn’t even heard him climb into the car. Her brows furrowed, and Wes made an apologetic face, nodding towards the little pouch. “Sorry, it’s the medicine pouch my nookomis made when I was born. Sacred, you know?”  
Donna couldn’t connect what any of those things meant. She had never heard of a medicine pouch, let alone a nookomis. “S-sorry,” she stammered, embarrassed at her accidental intrusion. Though she didn’t know what the thing was, it was obviously very important to him. “I just thought the beading was pretty.”  
He reached out and ran his fingertip over the beads on the strap, fondness filling his face with agony hidden just below the surface. “It’s okay, I promise. The beading is pretty, everyone in my family is like, crazy skilled at it. I’m getting there, though.”  
“Someone in your family made this?”

“My grandma. That’s what nookomis means, I forgot I was dealing with white people here.” He grinned deviously, and Donna giggled, rolling her eyes. Its not like she could argue; the closest she got to any kind of culture was Taco Tuesday’s in the Pinciotti household. “So your… nookomis? She makes these for everybody born into your family?”  
The agony behind Wesley’s façade flickered to the forefront of his features, and he directed his gaze down to the hole in the knee of his sweatpants. “She used to, yeah. She passed away last year.”

Regret crept up Donna’s face and she looked away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She saw Wes shake his head, allowing his peaceful smile to permeate his features once more. “She suffered for a long time, my grandpa and I took care of her these last few years. I’m glad she’s out of pain, and in a place much better than this one now.” Donna found his optimism charming, offering him a mirrored smile. “Your nokoomis sounds like a lovely lady. I’m glad you have this little piece of her.”  
Wes stuck his keys in the ignition, glancing out at the sleeping camp before turning them. The engine roared to life and he pulled out of the parking lot with expert precision, not bothering with the headlights until they were a mile or two down the thick woods. “I’ll have to teach you more words in my language, I like hearing you say them.”  
m The small appraisal brought heat to her cheeks, fueling the grin on her face. The thought of him teaching her more about himself, his culture, was exciting. She had never gotten the chance to learn someone like that. 

They drove rather slowly down the darkened street, the palest of moonlight beaming through the windshield and reflecting off the silver chain on Wes’ chest. Donna felt better and better with the additional distance between her and the camp. Being around Wesley was an instant anxiety reliever, and she didn’t realize just how much she had been craving to be around him until they were together again, separated only by the gearshift between them. She peeked at the speedometer, “How fast can you go?”  
“120. I can’t push it any farther than that,” he glanced at her with a small smile. “Why? Got the need for speed?”

“Actually, can I drive?” She knew it was a long shot. Guys treated their cars like they were made of glass. Fully prepared to be rejected, Donna suddenly felt embarrassed that she even asked. Surprisingly, Wesley nodded, pulling to the side of the road and sliding the gear into the slot marked “P”. “Alright, just don’t go all Evel Knievel with her, she’s fragile.” He got out of the car and walked over to her side, looking shocked when he found Donna still firmly in her seat.

The dark haired boy leaned into the car, brows knitted in confusion. “Are you not gonna take us for a ride?” He was so close to her she could smell the cinnamon gum he was chewing. When he flashed that brilliant smile, Donna nodded, moving past her bedazzlement to climb across the barrier and into the drivers seat. Wesley slid in to the empty space, shutting the door behind him and leaning back in the seat and raising a challenging eyebrow to her. “Floor it.”

Donna didn’t need any more encouragement than that. Bob had only taken her driving a handful of times, but she loved being behind the wheel. Eric had certainly never let her drive the Vista Cruiser, though to his credit she figured that was more due to Red’s rules than his own. Pulling back onto the dirt road, she slowly eased her foot down onto the pedal, glancing down at the dashboard every few seconds. 

60 miles per hour. 70. 80. 90. Before long, she was pushing 110 miles per hour, the trees flying by on either side of her. She felt so powerful, and Wesley’s relaxed energy radiated all around the car, coating Donna in peace and allowing her to ride the high without interference from her usual feelings of distress.

“What was that?” She asked suddenly, slamming on the brakes and throwing both her and Wes’ unbuckled bodies forward. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” The redhead exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands Wesley shook his head, and what Donna initially thought were silent sobs were actually chuckles. “it’s alright, you were having a pretty good time,” he straightened up, nodding back towards the gap in the treeline that had gotten her attention. “That was Lake Huron.”

Beyond relieved, Donna sat back in the seat. Braking like that could have had disastrous consequences, and she was thankful Wesley hand’t scolded her like a child for her mistake. Like Eric would have. “Lake Huron? Can we go look?”

He nodded, and she put the car gently in reverse to creep backwards. When she turned between the trees, Donna almost gasped in awe. The massive lake seemed to go on forever, small waves glistening in the full moonlight. She parked a few yards from the shoreline, resting her arms on the steering wheel and staring out at the ethereal scene.  
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured.

“Yeah, I know,” came Wesley’s response, but when she looked over at the dark haired boy his eyes were not on the water before them. Instead, they rested directly on Donna.  
The blush returned to her cheeks. “thank you for getting me out for the night. It’s really nice of you.”  
“Of course. Everyone needs a break sometimes.”

She snorted. “Yeah, but usually not their second day on a vacation.” Almost subconsciously, Donna turned towards the handsome boy beside her. Warm brown eyes seemed to be scrutinizing her every feature, but whenever she looked up to meet them he averted his gaze. “Wes?” Donna’s voice was timid.  
He raised an eyebrow in response, bemused.

“Why’d you bring me with you tonight? I know you said we wouldn’t get in trouble, but… it seems like this camp means a lot to you. I don’t know why you’d risk that for me.”  
That didn’t seem to be the question he was expecting, if any at all. “Just because it’s your second day doesn’t mean it hasn’t been stressful for you. I knew you needed to get away from… Eric, maybe Jackie too.” Wesley went silent for a moment. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to be alone with you, though. I guess that’s kind of selfish on my part. I’m sorry.” The sheepish expression returned to his face, and he turned to look out his window instead. 

Donna’s stomach did a flip, relieved that his interest in her hadn’t been a figment of her imagination. “Don’t worry, I was hoping that was atleast part of the reason.”  
A smile. “Oh yeah? That’s good, then.”

They didn’t speak for a moment, and Donna was thankful. She couldn’t figure out what she wanted to say to him. Apparently Wes was feeling the same way. When he did speak, however, his voice was rough with a sudden passion that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

“Look Donna, I think you’re, like, the coolest girl ever. I’ve felt this pull to you since I first saw you, and even though I haven’t known you long at all, I think you have the best energy and I… I wanna be around you more.” Donna’s breath was stuck in her throat. She knew what was coming next, or atleast she thought she did. Now was the time he would lay his moronic manly claim on her.

“That doesn’t mean I want to force anything with you, or… I don’t know, ask a lot of you. That would be stupid as all hell, since we barely even know each other.” He huffed a small laugh, and a little bit of Donna’s tension eased. “But being around you is… i-it’s just great, Donna. You’re just great. I just had to tell you or it felt like my chest was gonna explode.”

The redhead’s face burned with the fire of a thousand suns. “I-“ She smiled, pleased beyond measure that he hadn’t tried to push things any farther. “I feel the same way, Wes. It’s nice, being with you.”

She thought of the night before, at the little bonfire they made after all the counselors went swimming. They had talked for hours, and she found Wesley immensely interesting. He was funny, but never mean. Surprisingly smart. Obviously charming, in a laid back kind of way that she felt a magnetic pull to.

Wesley smiled widely at that, reaching out to cup her face with his massive hand, the warmth allowing relief to spread through her body, and she covered his fingers with her own. After a moment she found her eyes drifting down to his lips, the soft curve of his cupid’s bow a nearly perfect “v”. Leaning forward, Donna’s eyes fluttered closed, honeybees swarming in her stomach when his did too. When their lips were supposed to meet, however, she found nothing but air, her eyes snapping open to find Wes leaned back in his seat.

“I-I’m sorry,” he said nervously, looking away and letting his hand drop. She found herself missing the feeling instantly. “I know it’s not my place to say, but I think you’re in a very vulnerable place right now.” You’re right, Donna thought to herself, it’s not your place. “I couldn’t stand it if you regretted it, and started avoiding me. It’d really put a damper on my summer.” She couldn’t help but laugh, rolling her eyes and willing the heat in her face to go away. “That’s understandable,” she murmured. It wasn’t a placation; rather, she silently thanked him for his forethought and respect. Donna hadn’t really experienced that before.

“I better get you back, we have an early morning tomorrow.” Wesley sounded as enthused about the idea as Donna felt. She frowned, looking at him with purposely sorrowful eyes. “Thirty more minutes, please?” She knew as she said the words that Wesley would not refuse her, settling back into his seat with a smothered grin.  
Donna asked for thirty more minutes every time their half hour was up, and he appeased her every time. She wanted to spend the whole night basking in Wesley’s presence, in the tranquility his relaxed form offered. 

Not until the first rays of sunlight filtered through the windshield did she realize she had done just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can y'all guess who my favorite oc is? i hope you enjoyed the chapter, please feel free to let me know how you feel and tell me where you would like this story to go!


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